Case Title: State v. Lincoln

Citation: 165 Vt 570, 680 A.2d 110

Docket Number: 96-078

State: vermont

Court: Vermont Supreme Court

Date: 1996-05-15T00:00:00Z

Document:
State v. Lincoln  (96-078); 165 Vt 570; 680 A.2d 110

[Opinion Filed 15-May-1996]


                               ENTRY ORDER

                      SUPREME COURT DOCKET NO. 96-078

                             MARCH TERM, 1996


State of Vermont        }                    APPEALED FROM:
                        }
                        }                    District Court of Vermont
       v.               }                    Unit No. 1, Windham Circuit
                        }
Christopher Lincoln     }                    DOCKET NO. 347-3-95Wmcr


       In the above-entitled cause, the Clerk will enter:

       We revisit the question first considered in State v. Putnam, 7 Vt.
  L.W. 6 (1996), whether Judge Theresa DiMauro should be disqualified from
  cases involving officers from the state police barracks at Rockingham,
  where her husband, Trooper DiMauro, works.  Defendant sought Judge
  DiMauro's disqualification on the grounds that Sergeant L'Esperance, the
  key state witness against defendant, is Trooper DiMauro's supervisor at the
  Rockingham Barracks.  Judge DiMauro referred the disqualification motion to
  the administrative judge, who denied the motion. We reverse.

       In January 1995, Sergeant L'Esperance stopped for speeding a car in
  which defendant was travelling as a passenger.  After recognizing the
  driver as a possible burglary suspect, and detecting the odor of marijuana,
  L'Esperance told the driver that he intended to apply for a warrant to
  search the vehicle.  L'Esperance then sought and received the driver's
  consent to search the vehicle.  The search revealed a small blotter wrapped
  in plastic in a wallet belonging to defendant.  The blotter tested positive
  for LSD.  Defendant was later charged with knowing and unlawful possession
  of LSD, in violation of 18 V.S.A. § 4232(a)(1).

       Judge DiMauro's husband, Vincent DiMauro, is a uniformed state police
  officer assigned to the Rockingham Barracks.  Sergeant L'Esperance is one
  of the patrol commanders for the Rockingham Barracks, and supervises
  Trooper DiMauro.  As one of his duties, Sergeant L'Esperance helps prepare
  written performance evaluations of Trooper DiMauro.  Trooper DiMauro
  himself has no connection to this case, nor is there any evidence that
  Judge DiMauro has any relationship with the officers involved in the case.

       In Putnam, we noted that the defendant presented a "sparse factual
  record" in support of the motion to disqualify, and refused to adopt a per
  se rule requiring Judge DiMauro's disqualification in every case involving
  officers from the Rockingham Barracks.  Id. at 6, 7. We emphasized that
  none of the officers involved in that case had "a supervisory relationship
  over [Trooper DiMauro]", id. at 6, and that we knew little about the likely
  interaction between

 

  between those officers and Trooper DiMauro.  In this case, however, we need
  not "speculate on the inner workings" of the Rockingham Barracks, id. at 8,
  because we know not only that Trooper DiMauro and Sergeant L'Esperance work
  together, but also that Sergeant L'Esperance supervises Trooper DiMauro.

       Judges subject to disqualification motions are accorded a "presumption
  of honesty and integrity," and we give discretion to the administrative
  judge for the trial courts in deciding disqualification issues.  Id. at 7;
  Ball v. Melsur Corp., 161 Vt. 35, 39-40,