State v. Drake
| Decision Date | 22 June 1999 |
| Citation | 1999 ME 91,731 A.2d 858 |
| Parties | STATE of Maine v. Ronald DRAKE and Walter Hartford. |
| Court | Maine Supreme Court |
Andrew Ketterer, Attorney General, Donald W. Macomber, Asst. Atty. Gen., Lisa Pelkey Marchese, Asst. Atty. Gen., Augusta, for State.
David J. Van Dyke, Berman & Simmons, P.A., Lewiston, for Ronald Drake.
Justin W. Leary, Sharon, Leary & DeTroy, Auburn, for Walter Hartford.
Before WATHEN, C.J., and CLIFFORD, RUDMAN, DANA, SAUFLEY, and CALKINS, JJ.
[¶ 1] Defendants Ronald Drake and Walter Hartford appeal from judgments entered in the Superior Court (Androscoggin County, Delahanty, J.) following jury verdicts finding them guilty of murder (17-A M.R.S.A. § 201(1)(A) & (B) (1983 & Supp. 1998)) and robbery (Class A) (17-A M.R.S.A. § 651(1)(D) (1983)). Defendant Drake argues that the court erred in denying his request to suppress the videotape of his interview, and, in any event, erred in admitting portions of the videotape without requiring the jury to view the entire five and one-half hour recording. Defendant Hartford argues that the court erred in admitting the redacted testimony of a witness because references to Hartford, made by co-defendant Drake to the witness, were not effectively deleted. We affirm the judgments. [¶ 2] The evidence presented at trial may be summarized as follows: Defendant Hartford was introduced to the victim Bradley Burnell on the night of February 17, 1997, through mutual acquaintances at a social club in Lewiston. The party moved across the street to a second bar and Burnell pulled some money out of his pocket in front of Hartford and bought everyone a round of drinks. Burnell and Hartford left the bar together and took a cab to Drake's apartment to try to sell anti-depressant and tranquilizer pills that had been prescribed for Burnell when he signed himself out of a detoxification unit at a local hospital. Hartford and Drake spoke privately at the apartment and Hartford suggested that they "roll" Burnell. Drake informed Burnell he did not have the money at the apartment, so Drake, Hartford, and Burnell left to go to a house on Howe Street so that Drake could get some money to buy the pills. On the way over, Drake and Hartford attacked Burnell. During the fight Burnell fell down an embankment. Both Hartford and Drake followed him down the embankment and continued to hit and kick him until he stopped moving. They rummaged through Burnell's pockets and Drake found the pills. They left Burnell lying at the bottom of the embankment in "pretty bad shape," with Hartford thinking he might be dead. Drake and Hartford returned to Drake's place. Afterward, Drake's girlfriend found three pill bottles with Burnell's name on them on the kitchen table. Burnell's body was found eleven days later, the cause of death being a "blunt head and neck injury with aspiration of blood."
[¶ 3] Following the discovery of the body, both defendants were interviewed by the police, arrested, and subsequently indicted on charges of murder and robbery. Drake moved to suppress the recorded statements made by him during the police interview. Both defendants also moved for separate trials. The court denied the suppression motion and ordered one trial with two separate juries. Both defendants were found guilty and both appeal.
[¶ 4] Defendant Drake first contends that the court erred in denying his motion to suppress the videotape of his interview. He argues that the police erred in failing to give him his Miranda rights a second time during the five and one-half hour interview. Applying the five objective indicia adopted in State v. Myers, 345 A.2d 500, 502 (Me.1975) to the facts of this case, we find no error. Approximately five and one-half hours elapsed between the Miranda warning given as the interrogation commenced and Drake's incriminating statements. The location stayed the same. The officers changed within the first hour when Detective Parlin entered the room and, with the exception of Detective Urquhart's taking a statement at 9:20 p.m., Detective Parlin stayed in the room thereafter, even though other officers and individuals entered the room to confront Drake with information. Even when these other individuals were in the room, the interview continued. Contrary to Drake's argument that the incriminating statements eventually elicited at the conclusion of the interview differed decidedly from those made during the rest of the interview, they were the result of a properly conducted interrogation. See State v. Birmingham, 527 A.2d 759, 762 (Me.1987).
[¶ 5] Drake argues next that the court erred in refusing to allow the jury to view the entire videotape of his interview. We review a trial court's determination to exclude evidence pursuant to M.R. Evid. 4031 for abuse of discretion. See State v. Clough, 391 A.2d 361, 362 (Me.1978). "A trial justice has broad discretion in determining whether the probative value of evidence is outweighed by the danger of confusing issues or by sheer waste of time." Id. The State offered, and the court admitted, the last 40-50 minutes of the videotape of the interview that included the incriminating statements. The court found little of probative value existed in the complete interview and concluded that it would be a waste of time to require the jury to view the entire five and one-half hour videotape. In order to provide context and balance, the court gave Drake the opportunity to introduce selected portions of the interview totalling no more than one hour. Such a presentation, together with a statement, also offered to Drake by the court, that the interview was approximately five and one-half hours in length, would have sufficiently provided the jury with the context of Drake's defense that he stood by his denials during the interview until he was broken down at the end. Drake, however, chose not to introduce any portion of the tape. The court did not abuse its discretion in excluding the evidence offered.
[¶ 6] A state's witness was allowed to testify to statements related to him by Drake as follows: "this other guy brought the victim to his house with the intent of robbing him of money and some prescription pills, Valium"; "This other guy asked Ron if he'd like to rob him of his money and pills and Drake agreed"; ...
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