State v. Jones
| Decision Date | 13 October 1954 |
| Citation | 108 A.2d 261,150 Me. 242 |
| Parties | STATE of Maine v. Harold W. JONES. |
| Court | Maine Supreme Court |
Curtis Payson, County Atty., Rockland, for plaintiff.
Edward W. Bridgham, Bath, for defendant.
Before WILLIAMSON, TIRRELL, WEBBER, BELIVEAU, TAPLEY and THAXTER, JJ.
This case is before us on respondent's exceptions to the failure of the presiding Justice at nisi prius to direct a verdict for the defendant for the reason that the State had not established a corpus delicti. The facts as we understand them from a reading of the transcript of testimony are as follows:
The testimony disclosed that on February 2, 1954, at the intersection of Broadway and Masonic Streets, in the City of Rockland, at approximately 5:50 p.m. a motor vehicle was observed off the road with its front end against a tree. A witness testified that he came upon the situation at the above stated time, and as he approached the scene he observed two cars stopped, one of them being the motor vehicle which has been described as being off the road against a tree. The second motor vehicle was apparently on the road, and before he could reach the scene where this was taking place, the second motor vehicle drove off. The witness testified that when he did reach the scene, after he had been there a moment or two, an individual whom he identified as the respondent, came to the right-hand door of the witness' car and said something about wishing to be pushed out of the spot he was in so that he could get out into the road. There was other testimony from a police officer, Maurice H. Benner, who testified that in response to a contact made by the witness Perry, he went to the scene of the accident, arriving there at approximately six o'clock, where he found the motor vehicle off the road at the intersection of Broadway and Masonic Streets against a tree. When the officer arrived there was no one at the scene of the accident, and shortly after the officer arrived he testified that he saw a man, later identified as the respondent, coming up the street approximately fifty feet away.
There was no issue raised as to the question of the condition of the respondent, as there was sufficient evidence upon which the jury was justified in finding that the respondent was under the influence of intoxicating liquor. The main issue relied upon by the respondent was whether or not he, the respondent, had been operating the car at any time prior to its leaving the road. A further issue was raised as to whether or not extra-judicial admissions made by the respondent, after he appeared on the scene, were properly admitted into evidence for the purpose of proving operation. There is further issue as to the failure of the presiding Justice to rule upon a motion for a directed verdict made by the respondent at the close of the State's case and the granting to the State the right to re-open and introduced additional evidence after the respondent had rested and made his motion. We do not deem it necessary in this particular case to rule upon the issue as to whether or not the presiding Justice erred in permitting the State to introduce further evidence after having refused to direct a verdict on motion of the respondent at the time the State first closed its case.
The respondent was charged by virtue of a complaint and warrant issued by the Rockland Municipal Court charging the respondent with illegal operation of an automobile on February 2, 1954. The alleged crime as set forth in the complaint is the operation of an automobile on that date, to wit: February 2, 1954, while he, the respondent, was then and there under the influence of intoxicating liquor
On reading the testimony it appears that the main exception of the respondent is the failure of the presiding Justice to direct a verdict in favor of the respondent. The respondent's first exception relates to the admission of certain statements alleged to have been made by the respondent in the nature of extra-judicial admissions or confessions. The respondent objected to their admission on the ground that no proof of corpus delicti had been established by the State up to that time by evidence independent of the respondent's statements sufficient to create a reasonable probability that a crime had been committed so as to warrant the admission of the respondent's statements as corroboration of the corpus delicti. This Court has ruled very recently on the law relating to this problem and the position of our law is now fairly well established. State v. Levesque, 146 Me. 351, 81 A.2d 665. In that case, which was the first in many years, the Court reviewed the authorities on the question of when the admission of a respondent became proper evidence in proof of the commission of the crime, and concluded that:
'It is necessary to establish by some proof independent of extrajudicial statements or confessions that some portion of the building was burned or ignited in the...
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