State of Maine v. Antenor

CourtSuperior Court of Maine
DecidedSeptember 4, 2017
DocketCUMcr-17-1204
StatusUnpublished

This text of State of Maine v. Antenor (State of Maine v. Antenor) 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
State of Maine v. Antenor, (Me. Super. Ct. 2017).

Opinion

STATE OF MAINE UNIFIED CRIMINAL DOCKET

Cumberland, ss. STATE OF MAINE Cumberland, ss, Clerk's Office

STATE OF MAINE SEP O7 2017

V. RECEIVED Docket No. CUMCD-CR-17-1204 RUDY ANTENOR

Defendant

ORDER ON DEFENDANT'S MOTION TO SUPPRESS

Defendant Rudy Antenor has filed a Motion to Suppress Results of Search and

Any and All Fruits From search, seeking to exclude evidence and statements

obtained by the State as the result of the March 2, 2017 traffic stop and search of the

vehicle in which he was riding. Hearing on the motion commenced June 8, 2017,

with Shamira Thomas as the sole witness. It continued on June 19, 2017, with the

testimony of Jesse Duda, the Maine state trooper who conducted the stop and the

search.

State's Exhibits 1, 2, 3 and 4 were all admitted into evidence for purposes of

the Defendant's Motion. State's Ex. 1 consists of a video recording taken from the

dashboard and interior cameras of Tr. Duda's cruiser before and during the stop and

search. State's Ex. 2 is a recording of the search taken from the cruiser operated by

Tr. Duda's patrol supervisor, Sgt. Thomas Pappas. State's Ex. S and 4 are

documents relating to Tr. Duda's training and qualifications as a K-9 handler, and relating to the training and qualifications of the K-9 Mack, the narcotic detector dog

assigned to Tr. Duda.

After the close of the hearing, the parties submitted memoranda on the issues,

the last of which was filed August 15, 2017. Defendant's memorandum is titled

Supplemental Motion to Suppress, and it presents further legal argument in support

of his position.

Based on the entire record, the court adopts the following findings of fact and

conclusions of law for purposes of the Motion to Suppress.

Findings Of Fact

A. The Stop qfthe Motor Vehicle

Around 11 p.m. Thursday, March 2, 2017, Defendant Rudy Antenor was

riding as a passenger in a vehicle operated by his friend, Shamira Thomas. (The

vehicle is hereafter referred to as "the Thomas vehicle.") Ms. Thomas had rented the

vehicle, a Jeep sport utility vehicle with out-of-state license plates, from a

commercial vehicle rental company a few days before. The Defendant had no

ownership interest, leasehold interest, or other right, title or interest in the vehicle.

The vehicle was traveling north at about the posted speed limit of 70 miles

per hour in the middle of the three northbound lanes of the Maine Turnpike in

Scarborough when Trooper Jesse Duda of the Maine State Police approached it from

behind in his marked Maine State Police cruiser.

The Maine Turnpike is a limited-access way with a speed limit of 65 or more

miles per hour for purposes of the motor vehicle law that requires vehicles traveling on such a way to drive in the right-hand lane except when overtaking and passing

other vehicles. See 29-A M.R.S. § 2052(6) ("An operator driving on a limited-access

way with a speed limit of 65 or more miles per hour is restricted in ordinary

operation to the right-hand lane and may use adjacent lanes for overtaking and

passing another vehicle. but must return to the right-hand lane at the earliest

opportunity.")

Tr. Duda was on duty, in uniform and engaged in routine patrol. The cruiser

he was driving is equipped with a forward-facing and backward-facing camera unit

that can record video of both the area ahead and the cruiser interior. He has been

trained and certified as a detector K-9 handler. The other member of his Detector K­

9 team, the K-9 Mack, was in the back seat of the cruiser. Mack is a trained and

certified narcotic detector dog. See State's Exs. s, 4. The certificate for the Duda­

Mack Detector K-9 team dates to October 2016, five months before the stop at issue.

Traveling in the middle lane behind and somewhat faster than the Thomas

vehicle, Tr. Duda's cruiser gradually caught up to the Thomas vehicle over a period

of about two minutes and a distance of more than two miles. Throughout that

interval, the Thomas vehicle remained in the middle of the three lanes, with no cars

visible in the right lane.

Tr. Duda's cruiser video (State's Ex. 1) depicts only the second of the two

minutes during which Tr. Duda's cruiser followed the Thomas vehicle before the

stop-the video thus shows the Thomas vehicle traveling ahead of the cruiser for

about a mile. The approximately one minute of video before the stop is initiated does not show any vehicles in the right-hand lane. The only other northbound

vehicle shown on the video during the minute before the stop is a vehicle in the

middle lane ahead of the Thomas vehicle.

Because there were no vehicles in the right-hand lane, the Thomas vehicle was

not passing any vehicles and could have moved over to the right-hand lane at any

time during the entire one-mile distance shown on the one minute of video before

Tr. Duda activated the blue wig-wag lights on his cruiser.

Based on his observation of the Thomas vehicle's failure to move to the right­

hand lane despite ample opportunity to do so, Tr. Duda decided that the vehicle was

violating 29-A M .R.S. § 2052(6), the motor vehicle law requiring vehicles to travel in

the right-hand lane of a limited-access way with a speed limit of 65 miles per hour or

more, except when passing other vehicles. Tr. Duda activated his cruiser's blue

lights. The Thomas vehicle moved from the middle lane to the right lane and then

onto the paved shoulder, with the cruiser pulling in behind it.

As the video shows the Thomas vehicle rolJing to a stop in front of the

cruiser, the video also shows another northbound vehicle passing by. It is this

vehicle that Defendant claims prevented the Thomas vehicle from mov.i ng safely to

the right lane. However, during the two minutes during which the cruiser was

catching up to the Thomas vehicle, this vehicle that later passed by could only have

been well behind the cruiser (and thus even farther behind the Thoma~ vehicle).

Thus, the vehicle that the video shows passing by as the Thomas vehicle was coming

4 to a stop could not possibly have prevented the Thomas vehicle from moving safely

to the right lane.

B. The Investigation and Search

The Thomas vehicle had come to a stop very close to the fog line, meaning

that Tr. Duda would have to stand in the Turnpike travel lane to speak to the driver.

He went instead to the passenger side window. He saw Defendant in the front

passenger seat and saw Ms. Thomas in the driver's seat. He could smell the odor of

burnt marijuana coming from inside the vehicle, and suspected that the driver of the

vehicle might be impaired and that there might be marijuana or other drugs inside

the vehicle. Ms. Thomas and the Defendant both denied smoking marijuana in the

vehicle, although Ms. Thomas later acknowledged having smoked marijuana earlier

in the evening.

At Tr. Duda's request, Ms. Thomas produced her driver's license, issued by

Massachusetts. Defendant identified himself by first name only. Tr. Duda asked

Ms. Thomas to step outside the car, indicating he wished to verify her license and

determine whether she was impaired by any intoxicant. In response to questions

from the trooper, Ms. Thomas indicated that she and the Defendant were on their

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State of Maine v. Antenor, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-of-maine-v-antenor-mesuperct-2017.