State v. Cloutier

2003 ME 7, 814 A.2d 966
Supreme Judicial Court of Maine·Decided January 21, 2003·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

CALKINS, J.

[¶ 1] Donald Cloutier appeals from a judgment of conviction of one count of illegally transporting deer (Class E), 12 M.R.S.A. § 7458(11) (Supp.2002), two counts of guide license violation (Class E), id. § 7371-A(1) (1994), and three counts of driving deer (Class E), id. § 7458(10) (Supp.2002).1 Herman Hoilman appeals from a judgment of conviction of two [968] counts of hunting deer after having killed one (Class D), id. § 7458(2) (1994), two counts of guide license violation (Class E), id. § 7371-A(1), and two counts of driving deer (Class E), id. § 7458(10).2 Convictions for Cloutier and Hodman were entered after a jury trial in Superior Court (Somerset County, Marden, /.). Cloutier argues that he was entitled to a jury instruction on entrapment on the charge of illegal transportation. Cloutier and Hod-man assert that the statute defining “driving deer” is unconstitutionally vague. They also contend that the jury' instructions defining “client” and “guide” were erroneous and that the evidence on several counts was insufficient. Because we agree that the evidence was insufficient to find Cloutier gudty on two counts of violation of guide license, we vacate the judgment against Cloutier on those two offenses, but we affirm the judgments against Hodman and the remaining judgments against Cloutier.

I. FACTS

[¶ 2] In the fall of 1999, the Maine Warden Service conducted an undercover operation at Gentle Ben’s, a hunting lodge owned by Bruce Pelletier, a licensed Maine guide, in Rockwood Township. Game Warden St. Saviour, using an alias, stayed at Gentle Ben’s during Thanksgiving week in November 1999. He paid Pelletier for a week of hunting. He had a hunting license, which allowed him to hunt bucks without a location restriction, and a permit to hunt antlerless deer in Wddlife Management District 8.

[¶ 3] St. Saviour and a number of people went hunting for deer on November 25 and 26. He testified that Pelletier was his primary guide. Hodman, also a licensed Maine guide, was staying at another lodge owned by Pelletier and was guiding people at that lodge. Hodman and one of his clients joined the hunting party on November 25 and 26. At trial, Hodman testified that he was acting as a guide for his client on those days, but denied that he was guiding St. Saviour.. Hodman had kdled a buck earlier in the season and, therefore, was not entitled to hunt deer. Cloutier, another licensed Maine guide, also hunted with the group on the 25th and 26th, but he denied that he was acting as a guide. He was employed by Pelletier to drive trucks at the end of the hunting season, and he testified that hunting from Pelletier’s lodge was part of his compensation for truck driving.

[¶ 4] On November 25 and 26 the group was hunting in Elm Stream Township in Wddlife Management District 4. The group members kept in contact with one another by radio. On November 25, Hodman and Pelletier told some members of the group to move through the woods toward other members hunting from the opposite direction. Fodowing these instructions, St. Saviour, Cloutier, and two or three others went with Pelletier, who lined them up approximately 200 yards apart along a road, and Hodman took three of the hunters to another location. St. Saviour and those lined up along the road waited for about fifteen minutes, when Pelletier radioed them to start moving on a particular compass heading toward Hodman, which they did. Later that day, Hodman and PeUetier had three of the hunters fine up on a ridge and push toward other members of the party. A third and simdar push by members of the group, including Cloutier, toward other members took place before the group headed back to the [969] lodges for Thanksgiving dinners. On November 25, none of the members of the hunting party shot a deer.

[¶5] On November 26, following Hoil-man’s suggestion, two people stood at a deer crossing, and the other party members, including St. Saviour and Cloutier hunted toward them .from two different directions. Pelletier notified the hunters by radio when to start moving toward the hunters that were standing. After St. Sa-viour had been walking for a while, Hoil-man notified him and the others that he had just jumped a big buck. Pelletier then repositioned some of the hunters so that they were standing at a certain location and the others would move toward those standing. After one of the hunters thought he had wounded a deer, the group members were repositioned again. At Pel-letier and Hoilman’s direction three of the hunters stood while the others hunted toward them. While the movements of the hunting party on November 25 and 26 were coordinated, the group did not use noisemakers or dogs. Hoilman carried a gun with the group on both days.

[¶ 6] On November 26, St. Saviour killed an antlerless deer that he thought was wounded. He was the only member of the hunting party who killed a deer. Pelletier and Hoilman gutted the deer, and Pelletier informed the group that they had to be careful because the deer was killed in the wrong district. St. Saviour’s permit for an antlerless deer was limited to District 8. Cloutier asked Pelletier if he wanted help dragging the deer-out, but Pelletier declined. Pelletier and St. Saviour dragged the deer out to a road and placed it behind a blowdown. St. Saviour testified that at the time the deer was being transported out of the woods it was not tagged.3 They met up with the rest of the party and discussed how to get the deer to District 8, on the other side of the Golden Road. The group agreed to put the deer in Cloutier’s truck, and Pelletier went to the Golden Road and radioed the group when it was safe to transport the deer. Cloutier then drove his truck with St. Saviour and another member of the group as passengers, with the deer, to a tagging station for District 8.

[¶ 7] November 27 was the last day of hunting season, and a group which included Cloutier and.-St. Saviour, but not Hoil-man, went hunting. Pelletier drove St. Saviour, Cloutier and others to the location for hunting and let the hunters out one at a time along the road. The group had decided to hunt up and over a ridge toward a lake where two of the hunters would be situated. After they received word on the radio from Pelletier, they headed over the ridge. No one shot a deer that day. '■

[¶ 8] Hoilman ánd Cloutier were tried together along, with three other defendants, and all five were found guilty of all offenses that were submitted to the jury.4 Only Hoilman and Cloutier have appealed their convictions.

II. DRIVING DEER

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State v. Cloutier, 2003 ME 7, 814 A.2d 966 (Me. 2003).

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