Maine
Explore the dismissed Maine State Police cases
After the Maine State Police awarded its Trooper of the Yr quotation to an officer accused racial profiling and credibilty points in two high-proflie dismissed circumstances, the Bangor Day by day Information examined circumstances to higher perceive considerations concerning the company’s strategy to investigating unlawful medicine.
Utilizing public information, interviews and by visiting courtroom homes across the state, the BDN recognized 9 different dismissed circumstances involving the Maine State Police the place judges tossed proof as a result of troopers violated the defendant’s constitutional rights.
Beneath are annotated variations of the circumstances. Learn the complete story right here.
State vs Krystal Buchiere
Incident date: 2/22/18
Date of suppression: 4/5/19
Date of dismissal: 4/8/19
After stopping her on the freeway for driving 3 mph under the velocity restrict with a suspended license, Sgt. Tom Pappas, supervisor of the PACE crew, charged Krystal Buchiere with drug trafficking after allegedly discovering both heroin or fentanyl in her automobile. A choose dominated Pappas violated the defendant’s rights by failing to learn her a Miranda warning earlier than interrogating her on the aspect of the freeway.
State vs Edward Williams
Incident date: 7/27/18
Date of suppression: 4/2/19
Date of dismissal: 5/5/19
From the place he was sitting on the York County Toll Plaza on I-95, Trooper John Darcy seen Edward Williams’ automobile allegedly rushing and making unsafe lane adjustments, so he requested fellow PACE member Jodell Wilkinson to cease his automobile when he handed by farther up the freeway. Three troopers in the end responded to the cease and, following a interval of questioning and a canine sniff, charged him with drug trafficking after allegedly discovering cocaine in his automobile. A choose dominated the troopers lacked a authorized foundation to lengthen the cease.
State vs Malik Crocker
Incident date: 3/26/19
Date of suppression: 12/18/19
Date of dismissal: 1/5/20
Officers charged Malik Crocker with trafficking after allegedly discovering medicine on him throughout a chronic site visitors cease in Bangor that started when Trooper Jeremy Caron adopted his automobile leaving a comfort cease and stopped it for littering a cigarette butt. A choose dominated the troopers illegally extended the cease.
USA vs Cody Look and Jose Miranda
Incident date: 3/11/19
Date of suppression: 1/12/20
Date of dismissal: 6/5/20
State prosecutors initially declined to take this case, based on courtroom paperwork, however federal prosecutors charged Cory Look and Jose Miranda with drug trafficking after PACE Trooper Dana Austin allegedly discovered a condom filled with crack cocaine in Miranda’s buttocks throughout a roadside pat-down search. A choose dominated the search was unlawful.
USA vs Jeanne Morganstern
Incident date: 6/27/19
Date of suppression: 12/22/20
Date of dismissal: 2/8/21
On this case, drug brokers requested PACE crew member Jeremy Forbes, now chief deputy on the York County Sheriff’s Workplace, to discover a motive to cease a automobile they believed to be transporting medicine as half of a bigger investigation into the defendant’s son. A choose dominated that Forbes illegally extended the cease when he shortly deserted the site visitors violation to analyze the medicine.
State vs Russell Raye
Incident date: 12/11/19
Date of suppression: 3/3/31
Date of dismissal: 3/8/21
Trooper Taylor Dube stopped Russell Raye on I-95 close to Bangor for following too intently behind one other automobile and, after questioning Raye and his passengers and registering a optimistic alert from his drug sniffing canine, allegedly discovered methamphetamine, heroin and cocaine. A choose dominated the officer illegally extended the cease.
USA vs Richard Fortier
Incident date: 5/15/19
Date of suppression: 3/16/21
Date of dismissal: 3/26/21
Prosecutors charged Richard Fortier with drug trafficking and unlawful possession of a firearm after troopers allegedly discovered him with methamphetamine and a gun throughout an unlawful search of the wooded York County property the place he was dwelling.
State vs Jonathan Baez
Incident date: 11/4/2020
Date of suppression: 7/1/21
Date of dismissal: 7/23/21
Trooper Tyler Maloon stopped Jonathan Baez on the freeway after receiving a report of an erratic automobile, however the officer quickly shifted his consideration — and extended the size of the cease — to search for indicators of extra critical legal exercise. Maloon in the end known as for a drug canine however didn’t discover any medicine within the automobile; nonetheless, he allegedly discovered a gun that Baez was not legally allowed to hold. A choose dominated that Maloon illegally extended the cease.
USA vs Antron Owens
Incident date: 10/19/19
Date of suppression: 7/13/21
Date of dismissal: 8/24/21
Sgt. Tom Pappas stopped a automobile nicely after midnight for following too intently behind one other automobile, and, suspected drug exercise was afoot, known as for a drug sniffing canine. He allegedly discovered crack cocaine within the waistband of one of many passengers, Antron Owens, after the canine alerted and he carried out a patdown search. A choose dominated that Pappas illegally extended the cease.