In re Weapons Restriction of J.

2022 ME 34
CourtSupreme Judicial Court of Maine
DecidedJune 21, 2022
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 2022 ME 34 (In re Weapons Restriction of J.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Judicial Court of Maine primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Weapons Restriction of J., 2022 ME 34 (Me. 2022).

Opinion

MAINE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT Reporter of Decisions Decision: 2022 ME 34 Docket: Cum-21-413 Argued: May 9, 2022 Decided: June 21, 2022

Panel: STANFILL, C.J., and MEAD, JABAR, HORTON, CONNORS, and LAWRENCE, JJ.*

IN RE WEAPONS RESTRICTION OF J.

JABAR, J.

[¶1] J. appeals from a judgment entered by the District Court (Portland,

Kelly, J.) extending a weapons restriction placed on J. because J. presents a

likelihood of foreseeable harm. On appeal, J. argues that Maine’s weapons

restriction statute, a Yellow Flag law,1 34-B M.R.S. § 3862-A (2022), is

unconstitutional because it conflicts with article I, section 16 of the Maine

Constitution; Maine’s weapons restriction statute is unconstitutionally void for

vagueness; the court’s decision to extend the initial weapons restriction order

was not supported by clear and convincing evidence; the court erred by failing

* Although Justice Humphrey participated in the appeal, he retired before this opinion was certified. 1 Yellow Flag laws permit law enforcement to petition the courts for an order allowing law enforcement to temporarily seize firearms from individuals who may be in danger of hurting themselves or others. Yellow Flag laws require an opinion from a medical practitioner that the individual represents a danger to himself or others. Red Flag laws also permit law enforcement to petition the courts for an order, but without the requirement of an opinion from a medical practitioner. 2

to make factual findings in its order extending the weapons restriction; and

there was prosecutorial misconduct. We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

[¶2] We draw the following facts from the evidence presented at trial,

viewed in the light most favorable to the trial court’s judgment. See State v.

Sasso, 2016 ME 95, ¶ 2, 143 A.3d 124.

[¶3] On the night of September 8, 2021, J. was intoxicated and upset

because he was going to euthanize his dog the next morning, he had recently

learned his mother was going to move in with his financially abusive brother,

and his niece had just died of a drug overdose. He came out of his bedroom in

an agitated state carrying a handgun and told his girlfriend that he needed to

go outside for a few minutes. After J.’s girlfriend took the handgun away from

him, J. came out of his bedroom with another handgun, which she also took from

him. J.’s girlfriend could not calm him down, so she called 9-1-1. J.’s girlfriend

was “afraid that he was either going to hurt himself or [that he] might damage

something.” She was also afraid that J. was going to kill himself.

[¶4] During the nearly twenty-minute 9-1-1 call,2 J. repeatedly tried to

get back into his bedroom to retrieve more firearms but was blocked by his

2 A recording of this call was admitted in evidence and portions were played for the trial court. 3

girlfriend. He ranted that he was going to kill any police officers who came to

his home. When the dispatcher asked whether J. had any more guns J.

apparently overheard the question3 and replied “Many . . . Many.” J. also

grabbed two kitchen knives: a fifteen- to sixteen-inch-long serrated bread knife

and a meat knife. While the dispatcher remained on the phone with J.’s

girlfriend, J. made numerous threatening statements, including, “If you come to

my house, I will fucking kill you”; “I will fucking kill the first cop that shows up

here! Let’s do this! J.’s ready!”; and, “The first fucking cop to come to my house

is a dead motherfucker.”

[¶5] J. left the house while his girlfriend continued to speak to the

dispatcher. When several sheriff’s deputies arrived at the home, J. was standing

in the driveway armed with two knives. The deputies approached and

repeatedly asked him to drop the knives. J. did not drop the knives and began

slowly walking down the driveway toward the deputies. The deputies shot J.

with two less-than-lethal rounds, but these had limited effect; a third shot, to

his groin, finally caused him to drop the knives, and the deputies were able to

take him into custody.

3 Based on the recording, it appears that for part of the call J. was able to hear the dispatcher’s questions to J.’s girlfriend. 4

[¶6] During the time that officers took him into custody, J. remained

agitated and continued to threaten the police. When asked what he intended to

do with the guns, J. said “take care of business,” added that it was not the

deputy’s business, and stated that, if J. wanted to shoot himself, he could. He

calmed down on the way to Maine Medical Center but became agitated again

when he arrived, threatening to kill his girlfriend.

[¶7] While J. was in protective custody,4 34-B M.R.S. §§ 3862,

3862-A(1)(J), (2) (2022), a doctor assessed him for approximately six hours,

describing him as “possibly mildly intoxicated” and “very belligerent towards

the law enforcement officers and the medical staff.” Based on this assessment,

reports from the sheriff’s deputies,5 and medical records indicating that he had

previously been belligerent toward medical staff, the doctor completed a

written assessment that stated that J. was “a mentally ill person within the

meaning of 34-B M.R.S. § 3801(5)” and that he “pose[d] a likelihood of

4 34-B M.R.S. § 3862 allows a law enforcement officer to take a person into protective custody,

after which the officer must “deliver the person immediately for examination by a medical practitioner,” when that officer has “probable cause to believe that a person may be mentally ill and that due to that condition the person poses a likelihood of serious harm as defined in section 3801.” 5“[T]he law enforcement officer shall provide to the medical practitioner the information that led to the protective custody . . . .” Id. § 3862-A(2)(A). 5

foreseeable harm within the meaning of 34-B M.R.S. § 3862-A.” See 34-B M.R.S.

§ 3862-A(2)(B).

[¶8] On September 9, 2021, a deputy applied to the court for an

“endorsement” of the doctor’s assessment pursuant to section 3862-A(3)

authorizing law enforcement to notify J. that he was required to surrender his

weapons and was prohibited from possessing any weapons. Attached to the

application was a statement of probable cause and the written assessment by

the doctor, as required by the statute. The court (Woodman, J.) endorsed the

application, thereby prohibiting J. from possessing dangerous weapons

pending a judicial hearing. See id. § 3862-A(1)(C), (4)(A). On September 10,

2021, the State filed a petition to extend the restriction for a period of up to one

year, and a hearing was scheduled for September 22, 2021. See id.

§ 3862-A(6)(A).

[¶9] During the hearing, which is governed by 34-B M.R.S. § 3862-A(6),

the court (Kelly, J.) heard testimony from J.’s girlfriend, one of the deputies who

took J. into custody, the evaluating doctor, and J. J. was represented by counsel.

See id. § 3862-A(6)(A). In his testimony, J. admitted the events of the night. He

testified that his dog had since been euthanized, that he would never hurt his

girlfriend or the police, and that this was his first interaction with the police 6

since the 1990s. However, he also testified that he had neither stopped

drinking nor sought mental health treatment and that the issues surrounding

his brother and mother were still ongoing. He testified that the lesson he

learned the night of September 8, 2021, was “[n]ever call 9-1-1.”

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In re Weapons Restriction of J.
2022 ME 34 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 2022)

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