Estabrook v. State of Maine

CourtSuperior Court of Maine
DecidedSeptember 3, 2010
DocketKENcr-08-928
StatusUnpublished

This text of Estabrook v. State of Maine (Estabrook v. State of Maine) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Maine primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Estabrook v. State of Maine, (Me. Super. Ct. 2010).

Opinion

,STATE OF MAINE SUPERIOR COURT KENNEBEC, ss CR-08-928 / I , ,il'Ai\M __ I/r,,'_ iA,1,"c'OIO I,/Jld: I'\~/V 11/, , I '

JOHN ESTABROOK

ORDER ON PETITION V. FOR POST-CONVICTION REVIEW

STATE OF MAINE

BACKGROUND

Before the Court is a Petition for Post-Conviction Review brought by John

Estabrook. The Petitioner is represented by Attorney Scott Lynch, and the State of Maine

is represented by Assistant District Attorney Brad Grant.

The Petitioner was found guilty of one count of Class C unlawful sexual contact

by a Kennebec County jury on April 17, 2008 after a two-day trial. On April 23, 2008 he

was sentenced to four years to the Department of Corrections, with all but two years

suspended, and was placed on probation for four years with a number of conditions of

probation. In addition, Mr. Estabrook is required to register as a sex offender under

Maine's Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act. The jury acquitted the

Petitioner of three other counts of Unlawful Sexual Contact.

The Petitioner filed an application to appeal the sentence imposed, which was

denied on September 17, 2008. He did not file an appeal of his conviction.

The Petitioner was represented by Attorney Stephen Bourget at trial. Mr.

Estabrook now alleges that he received ineffective assistance of counsel throughout the trail process. By a pro-se petition dated December 8, 2008, he made a number of specific

allegations, most of which were not properly raised on post-conviction. These included

allegations that the sentence imposed by the Court was illegal, that the Court erred in not

allowing testimony from two defense experts, and that the jury could not rationally find

him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt on Count IV of the indictment if they acquitted him

of Counts I through III of the same indictment.

On December 15, 2008, Justice William Anderson issued a Post-Conviction

Assignment Order which provided for, among other things, the filing of an amended

petition after counsel was assigned. An amended petition was filed on January 14, 2010

which made further, more specific allegations of ineffective assistance of counsel. These

included claims that defense counsel should have subpoenaed Dr. James White, Ph.D, for

trial. Dr. White was the victim's therapist. The State had, just before trial, successfully

tiled a Motion in Limine prohibiting Dr. White from testifying. Mr. Estabrook claims in

this matter that had Dr. White been called he would have testified that no disclosure of

sexual abuse had been made, or that the victim's statements to him would have been at

variance with her trial testimony. He also alleges ineffective assistance of counsel

because the defense counsel did not appeal his conviction. Further, he alleges that the

defense should have timely disclosed a psychosexual evaluation of the defendant

conducted by Dr. Kathryn Thomas, Ph.D, such that she would have been able to testify at

trial. Finally, he alleges that the defense failed to challenge the open-ended indictment

through a bill of particulars, which Mr. Estabrook alleges would have enabled him to

provide an effective "time-based" defense.

2 FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS

The parties agree on the legal standard that the Court must apply in deciding this

matter. In order to prevail on this claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, Mr.

Estabrook must demonstrate that there was serious incompetence, inefficiency or

inattention of defense counsel that falls below that which might be expected from an

ordinary fallible attorney and that this ineffectiveness likely deprived him of an otherwise

available substantial ground of defense. State v. Brewer, 1997 ME 177. Importantly, the

Petitioner must prevail on both prongs of this standard in order to obtain relief post­

conviction.

Because the Court has concluded that the Petitioner, Mr. Estabrook, has not

prevailed on the second prong, namely that any ineffectiveness alleged deprived him of

an otherwise available substantial ground of defense, the Petition for Post-Conviction

Review is denied.

The Court will address each allegation brought by Mr. Estabrook separately.

Failing to procure the testimony ofDr. White

The Petitioner alleges that defense counsel was ineffective in that he failed to

procure reports and/or testimony of Dr. James White, who was the therapist for the victim

in this case. The Court had the opportunity to review the records of Dr. White, which the

Court allowed Attorney Lynch to subpoena for in camera review. Had defense counsel in

the underlying criminal case undertaken this process, as Petitioner insisted that he should

have done, he would not have found an available, substantial ground of defense. The

claim or assumption that a review of these records would have revealed that the victim

3 never disclosed abuse to her therapist, or that her description of the abuse is at variance

with her trial testimony, is simply not supported by a review of the records and a review

of her trial testimony. Therefore, even assuming that the failure to procure the records in

a timely manner constituted ineffective assistance per se, the Court finds that no

available, substantial ground of defense would have been generated by use of the records,

or by the testimony of Dr. White.

Failure to appeal/he Petitioner's conviction

Although this allegation was initially understood by the Court to be a claim of

ineffective assistance that deprived Mr. Estabrook of a substantial ground of defense, in

the post Trial Brief in lieu of Closing Argument filed in this matter, this allegation is

described as an "additional symptom of the inefficiency of counsel." (Trial Brief, pg. 6).

Mr. Estabrook testified at hearing that he asked his defense counsel to appeal both his

conviction as well as his sentence, while defense counsel states that he was only asked to

apply for a review of his sentence. However, assuming that defense counsel should have

appealed both, and/or was asked to do so, the Petitioner has failed to articulate why this

failure likely prejudiced him. There was certainly testimony from the victim at trial,

which when viewed in the light most favorable to the State, would have supported the

jury verdict. More importantly, because the Petitioner has failed to articulate why an

appeal of the conviction would have been successful had it been pursued, either through

expert opinion or even argument, this claim is without merit.

Failure to procure the testimony ofDr. Thomas

4 The Petitioner alleges that defense counsel was ineffective by failing to disclose

the psychosexual evaluation of Kathryn Thomas, Ph.D, resulting in the exclusion of the

evidence. Petitioner fails to note that the reason given by the Court for excluding the

evidence on April IS, 2008 was lack of foundation for her opinion, based on the

qualifying language from Dr. Thomas in the report itself. More fundamentally, Petitioner

fails to grasp that the Court would have never let Dr. Thomas opine at trial about the

Petitioner's risk of re-offending. Dr. Thomas would also not have been allowed to simply

report statements made by the Petitioner to Dr. Thomas, which if offered by the

Defendant would be hearsay. While Dr. Thomas' opinion may have been relevant for

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Related

State v. Brewer
1997 ME 177 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1997)

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