Opinion ID: 2280192
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Official Custody

Text: Both counts in the indictment charged Nason with  being a person in official custody at the Maine State Prison, having been committed to said prison on October 31, 1979 .... Appellant contends that the evidence does not support the charge that he was in official custody at the Maine State Prison because the procedures for admission had not yet been completed when the contraband was discovered. The statute under which appellant was charged, 17-A M.R.S.A. § 757 (Supp.1980), incorporates by reference he definition set forth in 17-A M.R.S.A. § 755(3) (Supp. 1980). The record provides rational support for a finding of official custody beyond a reasonable doubt under at least two clauses of this definition: (1) custody in, or on the way to ... a jail ... house of correction, or any institution or facility under the control of the Bureau of Corrections and (2) any custody pursuant to court order. At the time state officials found contraband in Nason's possession, Nason had just arrived at the receiving room of the Maine State Prison. He was physically escorted there by at least one deputy sheriff from the Penobscot County jail, where Nason had reported the previous day. He was obliged to report on that date and was escorted by a sheriff because, by order of the Superior Court, execution of his sentence on a drug conviction was to begin on November 1, 1979. Even though procedures for formal admission to the Maine State Prison may not have been completed when the contraband was seized, Nason was in official custody at the prison as the indictment alleged. See State v. Jackson, Me., 394 A.2d 769 (1978); State v. Morton, Me., 293 A.2d 775, 778 (1972).