State v. Brockelbank

2011 ME 118, 33 A.3d 925, 2011 Me. LEXIS 116
CourtSupreme Judicial Court of Maine
DecidedNovember 29, 2011
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 2011 ME 118 (State v. Brockelbank) 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. Brockelbank, 2011 ME 118, 33 A.3d 925, 2011 Me. LEXIS 116 (Me. 2011).

Opinion

LEVY, J.

[¶ 1] Scott Brockelbank II appeals from a judgment entered in the Superior Court (Kennebec County, Mills, J.) after a jury verdict convicting him of aggravated criminal trespass (Class C), 17-A M.R.S. § 402-A(l)(A) (2010), and assault (Class D), 17-A M.R.S. § 207(1)(A) (2010). He asserts that the evidence was insufficient to (1) disprove his competing harms defense and (2) establish that he committed aggravated criminal trespass. Brockel-bank also appeals his sentence, contending that it was imposed in an illegal manner because the court considered information related to his nonpublic, juvenile record. See 15 M.R.S. § 3308(2) (2010). We affirm the judgment and the sentence.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Circumstances Surrounding the Trespass and Assault

[¶ 2] Viewing the facts in the light most favorable to the State, the jury could have found the following facts beyond a reasonable doubt. See State v. Preston, [927]*9272011 ME 98, ¶ 2, 26 A.3d 850; State v. Nadeau, 2007 ME 57, ¶ 10, 920 A.2d 452. At approximately 2:30 a.m. on December 6, 2009, Nicholas Doucette awoke to the sound of a woman screaming in the parking lot below his second-floor apartment in Waterville. When he looked out his window, he saw a man and a woman struggling. Thinking the woman was in trouble, Doucette grabbed an unloaded shotgun and went out onto his balcony, slid the pump action of the shotgun to gain the attention of the couple, held the shotgun across his chest, and threatened to call the police. An off-duty police officer who happened to be on the scene identified himself to Doucette, who subsequently lowered the shotgun, returned to his apartment, and put the gun away.

[¶[ 3] Brockelbank was outside when he heard the screaming and ran toward the commotion. He testified that when he arrived at the parking lot Doucette was on his balcony with the gun lowered, although other witnesses testified that Doucette was back inside his apartment before Brockel-bank arrived. Brockelbank’s sister and her boyfriend were in the parking lot, but the man and woman who had engaged in the struggle had already left. Within seconds after his arrival, Brockelbank, accompanied by his sister’s boyfriend, ran inside the building to Doucette’s apartment, leaving his sister alone in the parking lot. They pounded on the door and Brockel-bank kicked it open, breaking the door-frame and scattering debris across the room. Brockelbank charged at Doucette, tackled him to the ground, and punched him numerous times. Brockelbank and his compatriot left the apartment after Dou-cette began yelling to his roommate to get the gun.

B. Trial and Sentencing

[¶ 4] Brockelbank was indicted for aggravated criminal trespass (Class C), 17-A M.R.S. § 402-A(l)(A), and assault (Class D), 17-A M.R.S. § 207(1)(A). He pleaded not guilty and was tried in September 2010. At the close of evidence, the jury was instructed on the competing harms defense, see 17-A M.R.S. § 103 (2010), and the State’s burden to disprove the existence of the defense by proof beyond a reasonable doubt, see 17-A M.R.S. § 101(1) (2010). The jury returned a verdict of guilty on both charges.

[¶ 5] Brockelbank’s sentencing was combined with his sentencing for a domestic assault conviction stemming from events that occurred prior to the incident in this case. The sentence for domestic assault is not at issue in this appeal. In his sentencing memorandum and again at the sentencing hearing, Brockelbank informed the court that he had received counseling for impulse control and anger management as a teenager, and requested that the court consider his willingness to re-engage in counseling as a mitigating factor in the court’s sentencing analysis.

[¶ 6] In response, the State explicitly referred to Brockelbank’s “juvenile record,” without specifying the adjudication or adjudications to which it was referring. The prosecutor stated, “I don’t care about the adjudications, I am more concerned that Mr. Brockelbank has a problem with his temper and that’s what we keep seeing.” The State asked that the court take this aspect of Broekelbank’s juvenile history into consideration as evidence of character. Defense counsel objected on the ground that the State was improperly disseminating Brockelbank’s juvenile history, in contravention of 15 M.R.S. § 3308(2).1 [928]*928The court ruled that it would consider the information for purposes of character only, and not as a prior conviction that might be used to enhance the sentence. The court otherwise made no mention of Brockel-bank’s juvenile history as a mitigating or aggravating circumstance in its three-part sentencing analysis.

[¶ 7] On the aggravated criminal trespass conviction, Brockelbank was sentenced to three years in prison, with all but six months suspended, and two years of probation with special conditions. On the assault conviction, he was sentenced to three months in jail, to be served concurrently with the first sentence, and a $300 fine. This appeal followed.2

II. DISCUSSION

A. Competing Harms Defense

[¶ 8] Brockelbank contends that the State failed to disprove his competing harms defense because there was insufficient evidence for the jury to find, beyond a reasonable doubt, that he did not believe his actions were necessary to avoid imminent physical harm to himself or a third party.

[¶ 9] The competing harms defense arises where there is evidence that a defendant believes his conduct was necessary to avoid imminent physical harm to himself or another:

Conduct that the person believes to be necessary to avoid imminent physical harm to that person or another is justifiable if the desirability and urgency of avoiding such harm outweigh, according to ordinary standards of reasonableness, the harm sought to be prevented by the statute defining the crime charged.

17-A M.R.S. § 103(1). Once the defense is generated by the evidence, the State bears the burden of disproving it beyond a reasonable doubt. See 17-A M.R.S. § 101(1); State v. LaVallee-Davidson, 2011 ME 96, ¶ 13, 26 A.3d 828.

[¶ 10] In this case, the court instructed the jury on the competing harms defense, and no question is raised regarding the accuracy of the instruction. Thus, we consider only whether the State met its burden of disproving the defense. See State v. Bard, 2002 ME 49, ¶ 16, 793 A.2d 509. In finding Brockelbank guilty of aggravated criminal trespass, the jury implicitly found that the State had disproved the defense. “[Ojnce a justification has gone to the fact-finder and the fact-finder finds that the State has disproved the justification, thereby rejecting it, we review the facts in the light most favorable to the State.” Nadeau, 2007 ME 57, ¶ 10, 920 A.2d 452.

[¶ 11] There are four required elements to the competing harms defense:

(1) the defendant or another person must be threatened with imminent physical harm, when viewed objectively; (2) the present conduct must be for the purpose of preventing a greater harm; or stated another way, the urgency of the present harm must outweigh the harm that the violated statute seeks to prevent; (3) the defendant must subjectively believe that his conduct is necessary; and (4) the defendant must have [929]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2011 ME 118, 33 A.3d 925, 2011 Me. LEXIS 116, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-brockelbank-me-2011.