State v. Sprague

• Decision Date: 08 November 1978
• Citation: 394 A.2d 253
• Parties: STATE of Maine v. Henry SPRAGUE.
• Court: Maine Supreme Court

Page 253

394 A.2d 253 STATE of Maine
v.
Henry SPRAGUE. Supreme Judicial Court of Maine. Nov. 8, 1978.

Rae Ann French (orally), Vernon Arey, Asst. Attys. Gen., Augusta, for plaintiff.

Craig E. Turner (orally), South Paris, for defendant.

Before McKUSICK, C. J., and ARCHIBALD, DELAHANTY, GODFREY and NICHOLS, JJ.

McKUSICK, Chief Justice.

Defendant Henry Sprague appeals from his conviction for homicide in the second degree under former 17-A M.R.S.A. § 202(1)(A) ¹ (repealed and replaced by P.L.1977,

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ch. 510, § 39) on the following grounds: (1) the presiding justice erred in admitting certain evidence under the "dying declaration" exception to the hearsay rule; (2) the evidence was insufficient to support the jury's finding that defendant possessed the requisite "mens rea"; (3) the presiding justice erred in failing to adopt defendant's proposed instructions regarding self-defense; and finally, (4) the presiding justice's instruction that self-defense could not be raised as a defense to charges of homicide in the 4th and 5th degrees constituted prejudicial error. We reject each contention and deny the appeal.

Henry Sprague separated from his wife, Nancy Sprague, in October of 1976. However, the couple continued to cohabit occasionally, both at Nancy Sprague's trailer and at the hotel where defendant resided. On the evening of Friday, May 6, 1977, Nancy Sprague attended a dance, unaccompanied by defendant, and met Robert Cline. Cline and Nancy Sprague left the dance in separate vehicles. However, Cline had indicated that he might visit Nancy Sprague at her trailer later that night, and the couple also made tentative plans to go horseback riding on the following day. On the way home from the dance, Nancy Sprague stopped by defendant's hotel and invited defendant to spend the rest of the night at her trailer. At about 4:00 a. m. after the Spragues had returned to Nancy Sprague's trailer and had retired Robert Cline arrived at the trailer and knocked on the door. Nancy Sprague refused to allow Cline to enter, and he went away, to return in the late forenoon. Nancy told defendant that the visitor was someone she had met at a dance the previous evening.

On arising later that morning of Saturday, May 7, Nancy Sprague drove defendant back to his hotel and then spent the remainder of the day with Cline. At about 8:00 p. m. Saturday evening, Nancy Sprague and Cline went on a date in Nancy's car, leaving Cline's pickup truck parked in front of the trailer. Defendant's sister and her boyfriend and the Spragues' two children remained behind. Later that evening defendant journeyed from his hotel to the trailer, discovered that his wife was not present, and stayed in the trailer. At approximately 11:00 p. m. Nancy Sprague and Cline returned and parked her car outside the trailer. As Cline approached the door of the trailer, defendant suddenly emerged, wielding a knife and "hollering" at Cline. Defendant claims that he was yelling for Cline to leave. Nancy Sprague testified that defendant screamed, "I'm going to kill you, you bastard." Defendant and Cline proceeded to struggle, both men apparently attempting to control the knife. At one point in the struggle, the fighting stopped while defendant exchanged words with his wife. Nancy Sprague testified that at the time of the lull in the fighting, approximately four feet separated the two adversaries and that defendant, though right-handed, now held the knife in his left hand. She also testified that the fighting resumed when Cline took a step toward defendant. However, defendant contended at trial that at the time of the lull, Cline walked a considerable distance away and then returned and suddenly "was right into it, right in my (defendant's) face." In any event, almost immediately after the temporary lull in the fighting, Cline received a fatal knife wound.

I. Application of Hearsay Exception for Dying Declaration

Peter McManus, defendant's father-in-law, and Rodney Moody, a rescue worker, testified that following the stabbing Cline identified Henry Sprague as his assailant. The issue is whether this testimony was properly admitted over defendant's objection that the foundational requirements for the dying declaration exception to the hearsay rule had not been met.

Rule 804(b)(2), M.R.Evid., provides two requirements for the application of the "dying declaration" exception: (1) the declarant

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must have made the statement "while believing that his death was imminent" ² and (2) the statement must concern "the cause or circumstances of what he believed to be his impending death." ³ The presiding justice must admit the contested evidence "(i)f he is satisfied that there is...