State v. Cote
| Decision Date | 05 April 1988 |
| Citation | 539 A.2d 628 |
| Parties | STATE of Maine v. Duane COTE. |
| Court | Maine Supreme Court |
R. Christopher Almy, Dist. Atty., Philip C. Worden (orally), Asst. Dist. Atty., Bangor, for plaintiff.
Mark S. Kierstead (orally), Waterville, for defendant.
Before McKUSICK, C.J., and NICHOLS, WATHEN, GLASSMAN, SCOLNIK and CLIFFORD, JJ.
The defendant, Duane Cote, appeals from the denial by the Superior Court, Penobscot County, of his motion to vacate sentence. As his sole issue on appeal, the defendant challenges the legality of a special condition of probation requiring him to cooperate with law enforcement personnel. We find the condition to be unconstitutionally vague and vacate the sentence.
On July 2, 1987, the defendant was found guilty of three counts of trafficking in cocaine in violation of 17-A M.R.S.A. § 1103 (1983 and Supp.1987). The Superior Court imposed a sentence of six years as to Count I, and three years as to Counts II and III, all to be served concurrently. All but three years of Count I were suspended and defendant was placed on probation for a term of four years. The court imposed as a special condition of probation that the defendant "cooperate fully to the satisfaction of the probation officer with law enforcement personnel with regard to trafficking in cocaine." On August 17, 1987, the defendant moved to vacate the sentence. After a hearing, the Superior Court denied the motion on November 6, 1987. This appeal followed.
A challenge to the legality of a sentence will be addressed on direct appeal only when the alleged infirmity appears plainly on the face of the record. State v. Dragon, 521 A.2d 704, 705 (Me.1987); State v. Blanchard, 409 A.2d 229, 233 (Me.1979). Such a challenge is appropriate here because we find the special condition of probation to be unconstitutionally vague on its face, and therefore illegal.
We have recognized that probationers enjoy certain procedural due process protections because of their liberty interest in continued freedom from imprisonment. State v. Maier, 423 A.2d 235, 238 (Me.1980). Among such safeguards is the right to be provided with reasonable and intelligible standards to guide the probationer's conduct. The test for determining whether a condition of probation, as it may be amplified by the judge's remarks on the record, is unconstitutionally vague is similar to that applied to criminal statutes: whether a person of ordinary...
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State v. Falcone
...not know which behaviors would lead to the violation of the provision and thus to a "loss of his conditional liberty." State v. Cote, 539 A.2d 628, 628-29 (Me.1988); see also State v. Aucoin, 278 A.2d 395, 396 (Me.1971) (declaring a city ordinance prohibiting "loitering" to be unconstitutio......
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State v. Hodgkins, OXF-02-413.
...case, Hodgkins's challenge is cognizable because he disputes the legality, not the propriety, of the sentence. See, e.g., State v. Cote, 539 A.2d 628, 628-29 (Me.1988) (holding that a challenge to the legality of a special condition of probation was cognizable on direct appeal because the c......
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...denied, 436 U.S. 959, 98 S.Ct. 3075, 57 L.Ed.2d 1124 (1978) (requiring fair warning of conditions of probation); see also State v. Cote, 539 A.2d 628, 628-29 (Me.1988). Dr. Richard Kauffman, a director of the program, testified that the historical information to be secured by the release th......
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State v. Johnson, 7454
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Probation, parole & other post-release supervision
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