State v. Basu

2005 ME 74, 875 A.2d 686, 2005 Me. LEXIS 78
CourtSupreme Judicial Court of Maine
DecidedJune 20, 2005
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 2005 ME 74 (State v. Basu) 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
State v. Basu, 2005 ME 74, 875 A.2d 686, 2005 Me. LEXIS 78 (Me. 2005).

Opinion

CLIFFORD, J.

[¶ 1] Santanu Basu appeals from a judgment of conviction for murder entered in the Superior Court (Cumberland County, Warren, J.) following a jury trial. Basu contends (1) that the court improperly denied his motion to suppress physical evidence because the search warrants were deficient; (2) that his motion to suppress statements should have been granted because the requirements of Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), were not complied with, and because the statements were not voluntary; (3) that insufficient evidence exists to support his conviction; and (4) that the court erred in imposing his sentence and in ordering him to pay restitution. We are unpersuaded by Basu’s contentions and affirm the conviction. Except for a defect in the order of restitution, which can be corrected on remand, we affirm the sentence as well.

I. BACKGROUND

[¶ 2] On April 4, 2002, Basu was indicted for intentionally or knowingly causing the death of Azita Jamshab pursuant to 17-A M.R.S.A. § 201(1)(A) (Supp.2004). Basu pleaded not guilty, and prior to trial, moved to suppress evidence obtained from search warrants authorizing searches of his home, offices, vehicle, pager, and cell phone, and to suppress statements made to police during a videotaped interview at the Maine State Police barracks in Gray. The court denied the suppression motion dealing with evidence obtained from the searches. The court granted the motion to suppress Basu’s statements in part, admitting the statements made during the interview to the point when Basu invoked his right to an attorney, and suppressing all statements made thereafter.

[¶ 3] Basu’s jury trial was conducted in September of 2003. Viewed in the light most favorable to the State, the jury could have found the following facts: Basu was born in India and came to the United States in 1972. He was raised by his [689]*689grandparents, and served in the United States Navy after attending college for a few years. After Basu’s discharge from the Navy, he moved to Maine in 1993 along with his wife and child. Later, he and his wife divorced; he then remarried.

[¶ 4] On January 4, 2002, Basu, who was an insurance salesman, met with Azita Jamshab. Jamshab wanted to purchase insurance, including health and rental insurance, because she had recently been through a divorce. Basu and Jamshab discussed whether to purchase a life insurance policy. Jamshab, who immigrated to the United States from Iran, wanted to name her parents as beneficiaries on the policy. Basu informed her that because her parents lived in Iran, she needed to provide him with additional information before they could be named as beneficiaries.1 Although being told by a co-worker that an agent should not be a named-beneficiary on a life insurance policy, Basu sold Jam-shab a $100,000 life insurance policy with himself named as the primary beneficiary.2 The contingent beneficiary listed on her policy was Ahmad Khojastehzad, known as Koji, a close friend of Jamshab.

[¶ 5] At some point after Basu’s January 4 meeting with Jamshab, Basu handwrote a “to do” list, including items such as “get car rental,” “pick up policy,” “carry out dinner,” “pillow,” and “ammo.” He entered this same information into his Palm Pilot. Later, Jamshab contacted Basu to tell him that she wanted to move and would need to terminate her insurance policies.

[¶ 6] On March 6, 2002, Jamshab told her co-worker that she had planned a “date” with Basu for that night. She asked her co-worker to provide a cover story for her if Koji or her ex-husband asked about her. Meanwhile, Basu contacted Eugene Flemming, whom he had met while in the Navy and who lived in Portland, to see if he would provide an alibi for him. Flemming assumed the alibi was needed because Basu was seeing another woman. Basu also rented a silver Buiek LeSabre, and arranged to return it the next morning.

[¶ 7] That same night, Basu went to Jamshab’s home in Westbrook shortly after 6:00 P.M. He drove her to Brunswick, and picked up take-out food. The two then went to his office in Brunswick. A janitor saw the two eating in the employee lounge at about 7:30 P.M. From his office, Basu drove Jamshab to Goose Pond Road in Cumberland. Between 8:45 P.M. and 9:30 P.M., he pulled into a gravel pit, where he shot her four times. Basu used a pillow to attempt to quiet the sound of the gun.3 Neighbors in the area and a police officer heard what sounded like gunshots at about that time.

[¶ 8] As Basu drove away from the gravel pit, he passed a police officer who was driving in the opposite direction. The officer remembered seeing a silver car with a license plate containing “KE” or “KF.”4 Basu then parked his rental car at the rental agency, cleaned it out, and drove his Montero sport utility vehicle to meet Flemming at a pool hall. Flemming was [690]*690not there, however, so Basu called Flem-ming at his girlfriend’s mother’s home around 10:00 P.M. The next day, March 7, Flemming went to Basu’s office in Brunswick, where Basu told him about the events as set out above. Basu also admitted that earlier on that morning he had driven his Montero out to the gravel pit to confirm that Jamshab’s body was still there. He asked Flemming to continue to provide him with an alibi.

[¶ 9] After 1:00 P.M. on March 7, Jam-shab’s body was discovered. She was covered with loose white stuffing or down. The police also found tire impressions from which they took castings later identified as compatible with Basu’s Montero. The medical examiner preliminarily ruled that Jamshab had died from the four gunshot wounds, and the autopsy later showed that the shooter was less than two feet away.

[¶ 10] Meanwhile, Koji had called Jam-shab several times on the night of March 6, and on the morning of March 7. He also contacted her co-worker three or four times. At first Jamshab’s co-worker stuck with her cover story, but she finally told Koji that Jamshab had gone to dinner with Basu the night before. Eventually, Koji called the police to report that Jamshab was missing. The police also contacted Jamshab’s co-worker, who informed them that Jamshab had planned to have dinner with her insurance agent, Basu.

[¶ 11] On the morning of March 8, the police interviewed Basu in his office in Portland. Basu told the police that he was supposed to have dinner with Jamshab, but that she had cancelled at the last minute, so he went to her apartment for only a brief time to discuss her policies. He claimed that he got together with Flemming in his Brunswick office, where they had take-out food. They then went to Basu’s Portland office. From there, Basu said that he dropped Flemming off at his house because Flemming felt sick, and then went home.

[¶ 12] That same morning, Flemming contacted the Portland police and told them about Basu’s startling confession to him. Flemming also made a taped call to Basu on behalf of the police. Based on Flemming’s statement, the police located Basu’s rental car, which had been re-rented to another customer. The car had stains inside which were tested for DNA; the DNA matched that of Jamshab.

[¶ 18] Later on March 8, Basu agreed to go to the Maine State Police barracks in Gray. He drove his own car to the barracks, and agreed to write a statement regarding his activities on March 6, which reflected his earlier interview with the police.

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Bluebook (online)
2005 ME 74, 875 A.2d 686, 2005 Me. LEXIS 78, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-basu-me-2005.