The Maine Supreme Judicial Court has upheld an Augusta man’s conviction on child pornography charges.
Randy Marquis, now 44, was convicted by a jury in March 2017 of three charges of possession of sexually explicit materials depicting children under 12 — specifically, two separate images and one video — on the computer in his Northern Avenue home.
He had appealed his conviction, saying that a judge should have not permitted the use of statements Marquis made to investigators when they interviewed him at his home or the evidence they obtained when they came to his home on Jan. 16, 2015.
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court, also known as the Law Court, heard oral arguments in the Marquis appeal last month, publishing a decision Tuesday on the court’s website.
At that hearing, attorney Scott Hess, who represented Marquis in the case, argued that Marquis had not given them permission to enter the home.
“Mr. Marquis ‘didn’t invite them in or lead them in,'” Hess told the justices. Chief Justice Leigh Saufley responded that Marquis gave the officers consent to search his computer.
At the same hearing, Associate Justice Thomas Humphrey noted that on an audio recording of the interview, Maine State Police Detective Justin Kittredge told Marquis many times, “I don’t have a warrant. You don’t have to let me do this.”
Assistant District Attorney Frayla Tarpinian, who was also the prosecutor at the trial, maintained that rulings in the case were proper and the conviction on the three charges should stand.
The decision, authored by Maine Supreme Court Associate Justice Donald Alexander, rejects Marquis’ appeal, concluding, “(T)here is sufficient evidence in the record to support a finding that Marquis consented to the officers’ entry.”
Alexander noted that “the investigator gave Marquis a consent-to-search form and told him that by signing the form he was consenting to a search of the computer and the SD card for illegal contraband, specifically child pornography, and that he did not have to give consent. Marquis signed the form, asking for the date.”
Marquis, who did not testify at his trial, was sentenced in April 2017 to an initial six months behind bars, and the remainder of the three-year term was suspended while he spends two years on probation. He is currently on probation.
Betty Adams — 621-5631
Twitter: @betadams
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