Argued: May 16, 2019
Jeffrey C. Toothaker, Esq. (orally), Ellsworth, for appellant
Timothy D. Curtis
Marianne Lynch, District Attorney, and Mark A. Rucci, Asst.
Dist. Atty. (orally), Prosecutorial District V, Bangor, for
appellee State of Maine
Panel:
SAUFLEY, C.J., and ALEXANDER, MEAD, GORMAN, JABAR, HJELM, and
HUMPHREY, JJ.
ALEXANDER, J.
[¶1]
Timothy D. Curtis appeals from a judgment of conviction
entered by the trial court (Piscataquis County,
Anderson /.) after a jury found him guilty of theft
by unauthorized taking of a firearm (Class B), 17-A M.R.S.
§ 353(1)(B)(2) (2018), domestic violence criminal
threatening (Class D), 17-A M.R.S. § 209-A(1)(A) (2018),
domestic violence criminal threating with a dangerous weapon
(Class C), 17-A M.R.S. §§ 209-A(1)(A), 1252(4)
(2018), domestic violence assault (Class D), 17-A M.R.S.
§ 207-A(1)(A) (2018), and unlawful possession of
scheduled drugs (Class D), 17-A M.R.S. § 1107-A(1)(C)
(2018).[1] Curtis challenges the sufficiency of the
evidence and an evidentiary ruling made by the trial
court.[2] We affirm the judgment.
I. CASE
HISTORY
[¶2]
Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the
State, the jury could have found the following facts beyond a
reasonable doubt. See State v. Nobles, 2018 ME 26,
¶ 2, 179 A.3d 910.
[¶3]
On December 26, 2017, Curtis and a friend spent the day
bobcat hunting in central Maine. When the friend arrived home
that evening, he realized that he could not find the .22
caliber pistol he had taken with him on the trip that day.
The following day, the friend and Curtis returned to the
locations where they had previously hunted to look for the
gun in the snow, but were unable to locate it. Curtis helped
the friend look for the gun on several subsequent occasions,
but they could not find it, even with a metal detector. The
friend put up signs around the general area where they had
been hunting seeking the lost gun and offering a reward for
its recovery.
[¶4]
At the time of the hunting trip, Curtis lived with his
girlfriend and her two sons at a house in Sangerville. On
January 8, 2018, while Curtis and the girlfriend were having
an argument, the girlfriend's younger son-who was
seventeen at the time-came out of his bedroom to check on his
mother. Curtis was just a few feet away from the younger son
and, upon seeing him, Curtis "puffed up," stepped
toward the boy, and angrily inquired "do you want some
of this?" This frightened the younger son and prompted
him to retreat to the doorway of his bedroom.
[¶5]
After the incident, the girlfriend told Curtis that she
wanted him to leave the house and no longer wanted to be in a
relationship with him. The girlfriend spent that night in the
younger son's bedroom because she did not want to be
around Curtis and was concerned about the younger son's
safety after Curtis confronted him. Curtis hollered outside
the door of the younger son's bedroom, "[W]hat kind
of mother are you, sleeping with your son? He's 16, 17.
And he must be a f-gg-t."
[¶6]
The following morning, Curtis got up early and left to go
hunting with his friend. The girlfriend went to a
friend's house because she needed to talk with someone.
While at her friend's house that afternoon, the
girlfriend received a series of threatening text messages
from Curtis, such as "U better call me b4 u regret
it," and "Ur pissin off the wrong bull."
Curtis also called her and angrily demanded that she come
home immediately.
[¶7]
Concerned for the safety of her sons, the girlfriend returned
to the house and found Curtis-in a bout of apparent
mania-sweeping and mopping the floors. The girlfriend knew
that Curtis used Suboxone without a prescription and would
act "very manic" if he took too much of the drug.
The girlfriend and her sons avoided interacting with Curtis
that evening, but when she attempted to sleep in the younger
son's bedroom again, Curtis insisted that she sleep with
him. The girlfriend agreed out of a desire to avoid further
conflict.
[¶8]
Once they were in their bedroom, Curtis would not let the
girlfriend sleep; he kept asking her why she was treating him
that way, calling her names like "dumb c--t," and
begging her to have sex with him. When the girlfriend tried
to leave the room, Curtis grabbed her by the hair and shook
her head aggressively. He also grabbed her by the back of the
neck and, at a different moment, held her down against the
bed while grasping the front of her neck. Every time he hurt
her, he would apologize and then revert to calling her names
and demanding sex.
[¶9]
Curtis continued to act irrationally throughout the night. He
told the girlfriend at one point that he was going to kill
her and everyone in the house. He also took out a gun from
underneath the mattress-a pistol the girlfriend had never
seen before-and cocked it. Terrified, the girlfriend asked
him if he was going to kill her and he said "no, I'm
not going to kill you." He put the gun back under the
mattress and resumed berating her. Eventually, Curtis took
the gun out again, waved it around, and alternately pointed
it at himself and the girlfriend. After he put the gun away,
she remained with him because she "just wanted the night
over with," and "knew that he would not give
up." When Curtis fell asleep, the girlfriend lay awake
next to him, too scared to leave the room; she prayed
"that he would leave in the morning to go hunting."
[¶10]
On the morning of January 10, 2018, Curtis's friend
arrived at the house at approximately 7:00 a.m. to pick up
Curtis for another hunting trip. After waiting to make sure
Curtis was really gone, the girlfriend came out of the
bedroom and went downstairs. Still shaken and frightened that
Curtis might return, the girlfriend told her older son-who
was eighteen-what had happened during the ...