State v. Peggy L. Shores
State v. Peggy L. Shores
Opinion
ENTRY ORDER
¶ 1. Defendant appeals the trial court's September 19, 2017 decision to deny home detention under 13 V.S.A. § 7554b. We affirm.
¶ 2. Defendant is charged with second-degree murder in violation of 13 V.S.A. § 2301. Defendant was arraigned on February 23, 2017 and, on the same date, the State filed a motion to hold defendant without bail. Defendant was held without bail at the arraignment, pending a weight-of-the-evidence hearing. The trial court held that hearing on March 29, 2017. The court issued a written decision on March 31, 2017, holding defendant without bail after finding that the evidence of guilt was great pursuant to 13 V.S.A. § 7553 and that the factors under § 7554 weighed heavily against defendant's release. Defendant appealed the decision to this Court, where it was affirmed on May 4, 2017.
State v. Shores
,
¶ 3. On July 25, 2017, defendant filed a second motion for home detention, listing her home in Mount Tabor, Vermont, where the alleged murder took place, as her proposed site for home detention. On August 31, 2017, the trial court held a hearing on defendant's motion. During said hearing, the parties stipulated that the court could consider the testimony collected at the June 6th hearing, produced through transcripts. Additionally, defendant presented testimony from the decedent's sister, defendant's son's girlfriend, and the DOC. The trial court also accepted a stipulated-to proffer by a Vermont State Police trooper. Relying on all of the above, the trial court issued a written decision and order on September 19, 2017 denying defendant's second request for home detention.
¶ 4. As required by the Home Detention statute, 13 V.S.A. § 7554b(b), the trial court considered three factors when denying defendant's motion:
(1) the nature of the offense with which the defendant is charged;
(2) the defendant's prior convictions, history of violence, medical and mental health needs, history of supervision, and risk of flight; and
(3) any risk or undue burden to other persons who reside at the proposed residence or risk to third parties or to public safety that may result from such placement.
The trial court relied heavily on the July 24th ruling, which denied defendant's first motion for home detention.
¶ 5. The trial court concluded that the first factor, the nature of the offense, favored denying the motion. The trial court agreed with the same reasoning in the first home-detention denial-after considering evidence that suggested defendant shot her husband while standing above him on the stairs in addition to the lack of evidence suggesting a physical confrontation, a killing in the heat of passion, self-defense, or an accident-the nature and circumstances of the crime weighed heavily against defendant. Further, it noted that "[s]ince the nature and circumstances of the crime have not changed [since the first home-detention denial], the Court continues to conclude that the analysis under factor one favors denying the motion."
¶ 6. The court also found that the second factor favored denying the motion. Again, the trial court relied heavily on the first home-detention denial. Citing defendant's 1996 conviction for assault, the court found that defendant had a history of violence that could not be "passed off as youthful indiscretions." Instead, the court found that a conviction resulting from an assault on two people-a law enforcement officer and another-"reduce[d] the Court's confidence that the public can be protected from further violence from defendant." While the court conceded that the other aspects of the second element, including defendant's medical and mental health needs, history of supervision, and risk of flight, weighed in the favor of granting home detention, it concluded that "these 'positive' factors [were] outweighed by her history of convictions and violence such that, overall, factor two favors denying the motion."
¶ 7. Finally, the court found that the third factor also weighed in favor of denying the motion. It noted that the Mount Tabor home met DOC criteria for home detention. But, the court relied on the distance to both the DOC office and the Vermont State Police Rutland Barracks, in combination with defendant's history of convictions involving physical violence and the extremely high degree of violence of the crime, to find that "defendant present[ed] a risk to public safety at the proposed placement." Therefore, after weighing the three factors, the court concluded that defendant had not met her burden of proof to show that the proposed residence was appropriate for home detention, and thus denied the motion.
¶ 8. This Court's "review of the trial court's decision to deny bail is limited
to abuse of discretion."
State v. Whiteway
,
¶ 9. Defendant argues that the trial court's decision-specifically regarding the third factor-was a direct criticism of the home detention program and in violation of our decision in
State v. Whiteway
, which mandated an analysis of each factor that is specific to the defendant and prohibited such systematic criticism.
¶ 10. Further, defendant argues that the trial court violated our holding in
Whiteway I
by relying solely on the nature of the offense charged to conclude that factor two-specifically defendant's flight risk-and factor three weighed against granting home detention.
¶ 11. On appeal, it is not this Court's role to substitute its discretion and factfinding judgment for that of the trial court. Here, after making the required findings, the trial court concluded that defendant did not satisfy her burden of showing that home detention was appropriate and thus denied defendant's request. We agree that there is sufficient evidence in the record to support this conclusion, and thus the trial court did not abuse its discretion.
Affirmed .
Reference
- Full Case Name
- STATE of Vermont v. Peggy L. SHORES
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published