Justia Vermont Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

Pro se Plaintiff-Appellant Stephen Bain was incarcerated as a habitual offender following convictions in 2005 for possession of stolen property and possession of marijuana.  He believed that police unlawfully entered his home following his May 2003 arrest, and he pursued this claim in numerous suits. Beginning in 2006, Plaintiff filed a series of lawsuits against Windham County Sheriff Keith Clark and others in federal court, focusing on allegations of police misconduct.  All of those complaints were dismissed.  In November 2008, Plaintiff filed this complaint against Defendants Clark and Windham County State Attorney Tracy Shriver, reiterating his allegation that police had unlawfully entered his home without a warrant five and a half years earlier.  Plaintiff maintained that Defendants were unlawfully withholding exculpatory evidence in violation of his rights.  He sought the production of "any and all computer, telephone or otherwise generated radio dispatch unit log[s] of [his] arrest and the bona fide activities of law enforcement for the days of May 22 and 23, 2003" under the Vermont Access to Public Records Act (PRA).  Plaintiff stated that he had requested these documents from Clark in December 2007, but received no response.  He did not allege that he requested the documents from Shriver.  Both Defendants moved to dismiss Plaintiff's complaint.  Shriver pointed out that Plaintiff failed to make a public records request from her office, and that he thereby failed to exhaust his administrative remedies.  In this appeal, the Supreme Court was called on to consider whether "radio dispatch and unit logs" generated by police were exempt from disclosure under the PRA.  The trial court found the records exempt from disclosure, and dismissed Plaintiff's claim against Shriver for lack of jurisdiction.  The Supreme Court affirmed the trial court's decision as to Shriver, and reversed and remanded as to Clark: "because the evidence in this case has not yet been fully developed, [the Court could not] discern if police radio and dispatch unit logs are the type of records that the Legislature intended to shield from view." View "Bain v. Clark " on Justia Law

Defendant Alexander Stolte appealed the decision of the Orange Criminal Division that denied his motion for bail review.  Defendant was charged with second-degree murder and held without bail. He requested that the court review bail based on evidence developed after his initial bail hearing in March 2010.  The criminal division refused to consider the new evidence and to reopen the question of whether the evidence of Defendant's guilt was "great," as required to deny bail under the Vermont Constitution and 13 V.S.A. 7553, on the ground that it is "modifying evidence."  Upon review, the Supreme Court reversed and remanded for further consideration of whether the proffered evidence, if relevant, was undisputed as to its origin and result as a matter of fact.  If a genuine dispute as to either arose, then the evidence would then be considered modifying evidence.  But if no such conflict existed, the court would then have to determine whether, if admissible, the evidence would have made a difference to its initial determination on whether the state's prima facie evidence of guilt was "great" for purposes of holding defendant without bail. View "Vermont v. Stolte" on Justia Law

In this case, a search warrant was issued to search the home of Defendant Richard Chaplin, and the search turned up incriminating evidence. In response to a motion to suppress however, the superior court determined that the warrant was not supported by an affidavit showing probable cause to believe that defendant had committed a crime under the standards contained in V.R.Cr.P. 41(c). Upon review of the warrant in question and the applicable legal standard, the Supreme Court agreed with the Superior Court and affirmed its decision. View "Vermont v. Chaplin" on Justia Law

After a jury trial, Defendant Ali Abdi (a Somali Bantu immigrant) was convicted of one count of aggravated sexual assault on a child. He moved for a new trial based in part on a claim of jury misconduct resulting from a juror's acquisition of information on the internet concerning Somali culture--a subject that played a significant role at trial. The trial court held a hearing, questioned the jurors, and issued a written decision denying Defendant's motion. The court concluded that though the extraneous information had the capacity to affect the jury's verdict, it was a harmless error. Finding that "if even a single juror’s impartiality is overcome by an improper extraneous influence, the accused has been deprived of the right to an impartial jury," the Supreme Court concluded the State had not met its burden of proving the jury had not been improperly influenced. Accordingly, the Court reversed the trial court's decision and remanded the case for a new trial. View "Vermont v. Abdi" on Justia Law

Defendant Jennifer Wyrocki appealed her conviction of disturbing the peace by telephone. The State charged her with making repeated and anonymous terrifying, intimidating, threatening, harassing, or annoying telephone calls. Defendant first argues that the trial court incorrectly found that the calls were "anonymous," and that as applied to this case, 13 V.S.A. 1027 violated the First Amendment of the federal constitution because it criminalizes protected speech. Upon review, the Supreme Court agreed with Defendant that her calls were not "anonymous" within the meaning of the statute, and therefore reversed. View "Vermont v. Wyrocki" on Justia Law

Defendant Scott Blaise appealed a superior court decision that he violated three conditions of his probation for his alleged failure to: (1) adequately participate in counseling as directed by his probation officer; (2) pay required fines; and (3) complete 140 hours of community service.  On appeal, Defendant argued that neither the court nor his probation officer imposed upon him a probation condition requiring him to attend and complete counseling at Teen Challenge, the program he stopped attending, and that the State failed to meet its burden of proving that he violated conditions related to community service or the payment of fines.  Upon review, the Supreme Court concluded that the State failed to prove that Defendant violated any of the probation conditions for which he was charged and that the errors were not harmless because of a later admitted-to violation.  View "Vermont v. Blaise" on Justia Law

Defendant Matthew Voog pled guilty to simple assault and reckless endangerment. He appealed the trial court's denial of his motions to strike surplusage from the information and affidavit of probable cause, and sought the return of property seized from him. Following sentencing, Defendant was placed in the custody of the Department of Corrections (DOC). In 2010, Defendant filed a pro se motion petitioning the court to "strike from the court, adjudicative, and incarcerative records, the unsubstantiated and non-adjudicated allegations" that he alleged were in the arrest affidavit and information "to prevent their continued use by [DOC] and other agencies in a substantially prejudicial manner." Defendant claimed that DOC was improperly using the information and the affidavit of probable cause that supported the assault charge to increase his "incarcerative level," which, in turn, resulted in his transfer to an out-of-state maximum security facility. The trial court denied Defendant's motion explaining that it did not have authority over DOC's decisions "regarding level of incarceration." On its face, nothing in the information was found as irrelevant or surplusage. Upon review, the Supreme Court concluded the trial court's denial of Defendant's motion to strike "surplusage" from the information was appropriately denied. With regard to his seized property, the Court reversed and remanded the case for consideration of whether Defendant was entitled to return of his lawfully seized property, directing the trial court to consider whether "the government ha[d] a continuing [legitimate] interest" in Defendant's property. View "Vermont v. Voog" on Justia Law

Defendant Jeremy Robitaille appealed his conditional guilty plea to assault and robbery, arguing that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress. Defendant maintained that statements he made to police were taken in violation of his rights under the Public Defender Act (PDA) and the Vermont Constitution. He also asserted that he did not knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily waive his Miranda rights. Defendant was arrested in Burlington following an assault and robbery at the Enosburg Pharmacy. An officer met Defendant at the police station and informed him of his Miranda rights. Defendant invoked his right to remain silent and his right to counsel, and all conversation between the officer and defendant ceased. The officer did not contact a public defender immediately thereafter, and Defendant did not ask for an attorney by name. While arrangements were being made to transfer Defendant to a correctional facility, the advising officer conversed with another police officer about a third officer's pregnancy. Defendant was a few feet away, but none of the conversation was directed at or concerned him. Defendant asked if anyone else was going to be arrested and a few other questions before offering to talk to the officers about the incident at the pharmacy. The officer again informed Defendant of his Miranda rights and asked if he wanted a lawyer present. Defendant stated that he did not. The officer provided Defendant with a written waiver form. Based on these and other findings, the court denied Defendant's motion to suppress. The trial court specifically rejected the notion that the officer had induced defendant to speak. Finding that the record supported the trial court's finding that defendant voluntarily, knowingly, and intelligently waived his rights, the Supreme Court affirmed the decision to deny the motion to suppress. View "Vermont v. Robitaille" on Justia Law

The State appealed a superior court's interlocutory order that granted Defendant Bruce Carrolton's motion to merge two counts of lewd-and-lascivious conduct into one. Relying on "State v. Perillo," (649 A.2d 566 (1994)), which involved facts very similar to this case, the trial court ruled that because the alleged offensive touching occurred continuously without any intervening act over a short period of time, the State could not charge defendant with multiple counts of lewd-and-lascivious conduct. Recognizing that the Supreme Court's holding in "Perillo" governed this case, the State on appeal asks the Court to overrule "Perillo" and hold that the touching of two distinct intimate parts of the body are two separate offenses as a matter of law. The Court declined to overrule "Perillo" and accordingly, affirmed the trial court’s decision. View "Vermont v. Carrolton" on Justia Law

Plaintiff David Lay appealed a superior court’s order that granted summary judgment to Defendants William J. Pettengill, Elizabeth F. Novotny, and Daniel K. Troidl on his complaint. Plaintiff's claims stemmed from an internal investigation into his behavior as a state trooper and his subsequent resignation from the Vermont State Police (VSP). Plaintiff argued that the superior court erred in granting judgment to Defendants on his claims of fraudulent nondisclosure, retaliatory prosecution, malicious prosecution, and negligent referral. He also challenged several discovery rulings made by the court. Plaintiff was suspended from duty due to an ongoing investigation by the Internal Affairs Unit. He would later hire a lawyer and settle charges against him which included falsification and misuse of property and evidence; making a false statement; failing to follow-up or make reports in numerous cases; and abuse of authority for conducting a warrantless search. The Windham County State Attorney's office became involved in commencing a criminal prosecution against Plaintiff. A judge found probable cause to issue a warrant for Plaintiff's arrest. At the time the second investigation was pending, Plaintiff had found new work by a private company. He was terminated from his job as a result of the arrest warrant. Upon returning to Vermont, he was charged with numerous crimes. He reached a plea agreement. Subsequently, Plaintiff filed suit against defendants raising numerous claims, including fraudulent nondisclosure, violation of his civil rights, and malicious process. In April 2010, the court issued the summary judgment decision from which Plaintiff appealed. Finding no legal basis for Plaintiff's arguments on appeal, the Supreme Court affirmed the appellate court and dismissed his case. View "Lay v. Pettengill" on Justia Law