An Augusta man has lost his bid to get multiple drug convictions overturned.

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court upheld the convictions of Franklin Arbour Jr., 40, who is serving the 18-year unsuspended portion of his 25-year sentence.

The decision, authored by Associate Justice Thomas Humphrey, was published Thursday on the court’s website.

It follows oral arguments held in the case in June, when the court sat at the Capital Judicial Center.

Arbour maintained he had been tricked into confessing to police and that the drugs found in his home were left by others. He also has challenged the quantity of heroin seized because only five of the 1,250 packets seized were tested.

Arbour’s attorney, Luann Calcagni, had argued that a judge should have suppressed evidence seized at the scene as well as statements Arbour made at the Augusta police station after being told his girlfriend, Angie Sousa, was facing felony drug charges in connection with the Sept. 17, 2014, police raid at his home.

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Arbour told police at the time, “She had nothing to do with it. It’s all me,” in a statement recorded on camera.

“We conclude that there was a substantial basis for the finding of probable cause to issue the search warrant and that the (judge hearing the suppression motion) did not err by denying Arbour’s motion to suppress the evidence seized from the apartment,” Humphrey wrote.

Addressing the second issue, Humphrey wrote: “We conclude that Arbour was not subject to interrogation at the time he made his statement and therefore that the court did not err by denying his motion to suppress.”

Arbour also challenged the quantity of heroin seized, which led to the aggravated trafficking charge, but the judges said there was sufficient evidence for jurors to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that 270 of the 1,252 packets seized from Arbour’s apartment contained heroin.

At the oral arguments, Assistant Attorney General Katie Sibley said heroin has unique packaging and that a certified chemist and an experienced officer with the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency was present when the search warrant was executed on Sept. 17, 2014.

Arbour was convicted in August 2015 of six charges, including aggravated trafficking in heroin, crack cocaine and marijuana, after a jury trial at the Capital Judicial Center.

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In the raid on Arbour’s apartment, police reported seizing 114 marijuana plants that had roots as well as some processed marijuana, some of it sitting in a kiddie pool to dry in the kitchen area and more on a screening apparatus.

After being processed at the evidence laboratory, it resulted in about 25 pounds of processed marijuana, one investigator testified. Also seized was 23.65 grams of crack cocaine, one investigator testified.

Betty Adams — 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @betadams


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