State v. Dehetre

539 A.2d 1097, 1988 Me. LEXIS 80
CourtSupreme Judicial Court of Maine
DecidedMarch 21, 1988
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 539 A.2d 1097 (State v. Dehetre) 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. Dehetre, 539 A.2d 1097, 1988 Me. LEXIS 80 (Me. 1988).

Opinion

SCOLNIK, Justice.

Donald Dehetre appeals his conviction of two counts of unlawful sexual contact, 17-A M.R.S.A. § 255 (Class C) (1983) entered after a jury trial in the Superior Court, York County. Because we find no merit in any of the various claims of error that Dehetre asserts on appeal, we affirm his conviction.

At the time in question, Dehetre, a self-employed roofer, was living in Springvale with his wife, his son, and the victim, who was his stepdaughter and the daughter of his wife. In May of 1985, the victim, who was then seven years of age, was in the second grade at a school in Springvale. Late in May, the victim’s teacher received complaints that during recess periods the victim was pinching and patting other children in a “provocative” manner. The teacher spoke with the victim about her behavior. During their discussion the victim told the teacher that she had been touched in the same manner by her stepfather. The teacher then informed her principal of the victim’s allegation. On June 4, 1985 the victim was interviewed at school by a representative of the Department of Human Services. The teacher, the school principal and Roderick Beaulieu, a Sanford police officer, were also present. During the interview, the victim said Dehetre had entered her bedroom one night while he was drunk and rubbed his hand in her crotch area over her nightgown.

About a week after the June 4 interview, Dehetre came to the Sanford Police Station to speak with Beaulieu. At trial, Beaulieu testified that after being given Miranda warnings, Dehetre told Beaulieu he had been having problems with alcohol and that he could have committed the abuse alleged by the victim. Beaulieu further testified that he recorded his version of this conversation in a supplemental police report shortly after he had spoken with Dehetre. Subsequent to the police station interview, the victim described to investigators another incident of her abuse by Dehetre.

Dehetre was indicted on two counts of unlawful sexual contact on October 11, [1099]*10991985. A year later, in October of 1986, a hearing was held on a motion in limine filed by Dehetre to exclude the inculpatory statement he allegedly made to Beaulieu. Although the motion justice indicated that the State’s late provision of the report of the inculpatory statement was a discovery violation, he deferred until trial a determination of the sanction to be imposed.

A three-day trial was held that began on December 16, 1986. The trial justice denied Dehetre’s motion in limine. Among the State’s witnesses were the victim and Beaulieu. The victim testified regarding two incidents of sexual abuse by Dehetre. Beaulieu testified about the June 4 interview with the victim and the inculpatory remarks made by Dehetre approximately a week later at the police station.

Defense witnesses included Dehetre, the Assistant District Attorney who was present at the motion in limine hearing, and the victim’s grandmother. The Assistant District Attorney’s testimony related to the handling of the supplemental police report that dealt with Beaulieu’s interview with Dehetre which was provided for the first time to the defense in October, 1986 as a part of discovery.1 The victim’s grandmother, on cross-examination, testified that Dehetre had harassed the victim over the phone after the victim had made her allegations against him. These calls were made after the June 4 interview in 1985 while the victim was staying temporarily with her grandmother. The trial justice instructed the jury to disregard the grandmother’s testimony regarding Dehetre’s harassing phone calls.

I.

Dehetre’s first contention is that the trial justice erred in his denial of the motion in limine. The justice who initially considered the motion in October of 1986 deferred decision on a sanction until trial, but did not preside at the trial. The trial justice denied the motion.

Dehetre’s argument on this point seems to be as follows: Because the motion justice had indicated he would probably grant the motion in limine with respect to the inculpatory statement made by Dehetre to Beaulieu, the motion justice’s presumed intent was binding on the trial justice. This argument is without merit.

By deferring action on the sanction to be imposed, the motion justice made no final decision that was binding on the justice who presided at trial. Because the report of Dehetre’s inculpatory comments was provided at an unjustifiably late time in discovery, the motion justice, assuming that a trial was imminent, found this to be a violation of M.R.Crim.P. 16(a)(1)(B)2, but deferred imposition of a sanction until trial, at which he apparently expected to preside.

Whether to impose a sanction for the violation of discovery rules lies in the sound discretion of the justice considering the sanction. State v. Reeves, 499 A.2d 130, 133 (Me.1985). In order to demonstrate that the trial justice abused his discretion by not granting the motion in li-mine, Dehetre must demonstrate that (1) he was prejudiced as a result of the discovery violation and (2) this prejudice resulted in an unfair trial. Reeves, 499 A.2d at 133; State v. Sapiel, 432 A.2d 1262, 1268 (Me.1981). Because the trial was delayed for two months after the supplemental report was provided, the trial justice could have justifiably concluded that Dehetre and his counsel had ample time to review the contents of the report. It is notable that in his brief, Dehetre does not specify any undue prejudice caused by the State’s discovery [1100]*1100violation. In these circumstances, the trial justice was free to make a fresh determination of the motion in limine and we find that in denying the motion he acted within the limits of his discretion.

II.

Dehetre next contends that Beaulieu testified inaccurately in relation to the preparation of his original report of the June 4, 1985 interview with the victim and his supplemental report containing Dehetre’s in-culpatory statement. Dehetre argues that this testimony came sufficiently close to outright perjury so as to require a reversal of his conviction, since the use of this allegedly false testimony violated his right to due process under U.S. Const. Amend. XIV, § 1. The question of when the reports were prepared is significant. If, for example, the supplemental report was prepared in October of 1986, and not in June of 1985, this would undercut Beaulieu’s testimony as to the inculpatory remark made by Dehetre. A jury would be likely to find Beaulieu’s testimony more credible if it were corroborated by a report written at a time contemporaneous with that of Dehetre’s alleged admission.

Dehetre’s claim stems from two alleged inconsistencies in Beaulieu's testimony at trial. . The first alleged inconsistency involves Beaulieu’s initial report of his interview with the victim. Beaulieu testified that he wrote his initial report the same day as the interview, on June 4, 1985.

Dehetre correctly points out that although the initial report is dated June 4, 1985, the report also mentions that Dehetre was arrested on June 13. Beaulieu could not have foreseen on June 4 that Dehetre would be arrested on June 13; hence the report appears to have been written sometime after June 13, 1985, contrary to Beau-lieu’s testimony.

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Related

State v. Donovan
553 A.2d 221 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1989)

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539 A.2d 1097, 1988 Me. LEXIS 80, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-dehetre-me-1988.