State v. Gorman

• Decision Date: 22 July 2004
• Citation: 854 A.2d 1164,2004 ME 90
• Parties: STATE of Maine v. Jeffery GORMAN.
• Court: Maine Supreme Court

854 A.2d 1164

2004 ME 90

STATE of Maine v. Jeffery GORMAN.

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

Argued: February 13, 2004.

Reargued: June 8, 2004.

Decided: July 22, 2004.

G. Steven Rowe, Attorney General, Donald W. Macomber, Asst. Attorney General (orally), Fernand LaRochelle, Asst. Attorney General, Augusta, for State.

Christopher K. MacLean (orally), MacLean & MacLean, L.L.C., Camden, for defendant.

Panel: SAUFLEY, C.J., and CLIFFORD, RUDMAN, DANA, ALEXANDER, CALKINS, and LEVY, JJ.

ALEXANDER, J.

[¶ 1] Jeffery Gorman appeals from the judgment of conviction for murder entered after a jury trial in the Superior Court (Cumberland County, Mills, C.J.). The jury found him guilty of intentionally or knowingly causing the death of Amy St. Laurent pursuant to 17-A M.R.S.A. § 201(1)(A) (1983).¹ During the grand jury proceedings leading to Gorman's indictment, Gorman's mother testified that Gorman had confessed to her, and she related the details of that confession. At trial, Gorman's mother testified that she had no memory of either the confession or the grand jury proceedings. Gorman asserts that the trial court erred in (1) requiring his mother to testify at trial after she asserted no memory of the events, and (2) admitting at trial his mother's grand jury testimony pursuant to the "recorded recollection" exception to the hearsay rule, M.R. Evid. 803(5). Gorman also asserts that the evidence is insufficient to support his conviction. Because we conclude that there was no error in the trial court's evidentiary rulings and the evidence is sufficient to support the conviction, we affirm the judgment.

I. CASE HISTORY

[¶ 2] On the evening of October 20-21, 2001, Amy St. Laurent and a friend visited several bars in Portland's Old Port section. During the evening, St. Laurent met Jeffery Gorman and a friend of Gorman's. After St. Laurent and her friend became separated, she accompanied Gorman and his friend to another bar and then to a Portland apartment where Gorman was staying with four other individuals. After approximately one-half hour, St. Laurent asked to be taken back to an Old Port bar to look for her friend. Gorman offered to give St. Laurent a ride, and they left the apartment between 2:00 and 2:30 A.M.

[¶ 3] St. Laurent was last seen alive when she left the apartment with Gorman. Later, in the early morning hours, Gorman, driving alone, was stopped by a Westbrook police officer for driving with his high beams on. At the time, Gorman was driving towards Portland. The time of the stop was 3:14 A.M., and Gorman was allowed to proceed towards Portland at 3:22 A.M.²

[¶ 4] After St. Laurent was reported missing, a flyer asking for information about her was distributed in the Portland area. On the evening of October 22, the man who was with St. Laurent on October 20, saw a flyer, contacted police and told them what had happened on late Saturday evening and early Sunday morning.

[¶ 5] Gorman and his friends also saw a flyer and called police. Gorman and two friends were then interviewed separately. Gorman told police that he met St. Laurent in the Old Port, had taken her back to the apartment "looking to score," driven her back to a bar in the Old Port where he dropped her off to look for her friend and then returned to the apartment. In the interview, Gorman did not mention his contact with the Westbrook police, and he refused a police request to search his vehicle.

[¶ 6] The next day, Gorman drove his vehicle to the auto sales business where he and his mother's boyfriend worked. He arrived fifteen minutes before closing time and started cleaning the inside of his car. Gorman told his mother's boyfriend that a friend was borrowing the car the next day. He told another coworker that he had to clean the car because he had a date that night. He also told this coworker that he "may be implicated" in St. Laurent's disappearance, but he had nothing to do with it.

[¶ 7] In November 2001, Gorman told a friend that he had no role in St. Laurent's disappearance. He then stated "They're not going to find her body, they don't have any evidence."

[¶ 8] Before St. Laurent's body was found, Gorman had two telephone conversations with a former girlfriend. In the first, the day after St. Laurent's disappearance, Gorman told his former girlfriend about meeting St. Laurent, and that after bringing her to the apartment, he had dropped her off downtown. He had heard that she was missing and said it was a "weird coincidence." In the next phone call, Gorman told his former girlfriend he had not dropped St. Laurent off as he originally said, but that his two friends had taken her. He stated that when his friends returned after three hours, they had blood on their hands. Gorman further stated that his friends had threatened him to keep him quiet, and made him go to the police. Gorman called his former girlfriend a third time after the body was discovered. He told her that a couple of days after the murder, his friends had asked him for a good spot to hide St. Laurent's body. Gorman said he told them about the place in the woods behind his mother's house near a pond where he had done some fishing.

[¶ 9] St. Laurent's body was found on December 8, 2001, buried in a wooded area three-tenths of a mile from Gorman's mother's house near the pond where Gorman had fished. The cause of death, not disclosed until March of 2002, was a gunshot wound to the head. There was no evidence, other than the position of her clothing, of sexual assault. The body had been exposed for at least twelve to twenty-four hours before it was buried.

[¶ 10] The police received information that Gorman had admitted to his mother that he had shot St. Laurent near the pond. Gorman's mother was then subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury.

[¶ 11] After first refusing to testify and then being ordered by a judge to do so, Gorman's mother testified at the grand jury proceedings on February 8, 2002. Discussing her reluctance to testify, Gorman's mother told the grand jury: "I've always wanted to tell the truth. I just never wanted to talk. I just wanted the justice system to do their job and let justice be served and leave me out of it. Because I certainly don't want to testify in any trial."

[¶ 12] Addressing her conversation with Gorman, his mother testified under oath that Gorman had called her cell phone on December 9, 2001, the day after St. Laurent's body was discovered. She further testified that during that phone call, Gorman first told her that two other men had killed St. Laurent and buried the body near her house in order to implicate him. He then changed his story, and told her that he had killed St. Laurent. Gorman's mother further testified that Gorman said he had taken four hits of acid that night; that while he and St. Laurent were walking by the pond, he had looked at St. Laurent, seen his mother's face, pulled out a gun and shot St. Laurent in the head, intending to kill his mother. He told his mother that he returned three days later and buried the body with a shovel he had borrowed from her.

[¶ 13] Gorman was indicted and pleaded not guilty. His jury trial began in Superior Court on January 13, 2003. That same day, Gorman's mother filed a motion to quash the State's subpoena for her to testify and a supporting affidavit claiming a complete lack of memory of Gorman's confession or her grand jury testimony. After voir dire on the issue of competency and careful consideration of the issue with counsel, the trial court denied the motion to quash.

[¶ 14] When Gorman's mother took the stand,³ she testified about conversations she had with Gorman both before and after December 8-9, 2001, including a conversation on December 10 or 11 that resulted in her sending him money. She also testified that before discovery of the body, Gorman had told her that after a party that "never really developed" he had dropped St. Laurent off at a Portland nightclub, and she testified that Gorman had never changed this version of his actions on the night that St. Laurent disappeared.

[¶ 15] Gorman's mother also testified about her recollection of police interviews with her before discovery of the body, about events on December 8 when the body was discovered and about her medical condition at the time of the grand jury proceedings. While recalling and testifying about events on December 8 and December 10, Gorman's mother testified that she had no recollection of her son's December 9 conversation with her or of the grand jury proceedings. The State repeatedly attempted to refresh her recollection, without success, with both the transcript and the audiotape of the grand jury testimony. During this examination, the State asked: "If you testified before the Grand Jury under oath on February 8, 2002 and you took an oath did you testify to the truth?" Gorman's mother responded: "Absolutely."

[¶ 16] Thereafter, the court reporter who had been present at the grand jury testified to lay the foundation for admission of the grand jury testimony. The court reporter identified Gorman's mother as having given testimony on February 8, 2002; he testified that he took down her testimony with his transcription machine and he tape-recorded her testimony. He then transcribed the testimony from his stenographic notes and compared it with the tape-recorded testimony. He testified that the transcript and the audiotape were accurate representations of her testimony that day. He further testified that he observed Gorman's mother being administered the oath to tell the truth and being reminded that she remained under oath on February 8, 2002. Both the audiotape and stenographic notes reflect that she was given that oath.

[¶ 17] After hearing each side fully and over Gorman's objection, the trial court admitted the grand jury testimony pursuant to the past recollection recorded exception to the hearsay rule, M.R. Evid. 803(5). Because concerns had been raised about the accuracy of the...