From The Bedroom Window To Madawaska (And Then To Jail)

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court affirmed a conviction for fleeing from arrest on these facts

After the boyfriend opened the door, Dorweiler appeared in the doorway. The officer told her that he had a warrant for her arrest, and she “advised [him] she was aware.” At that point, the officer told Dorweiler that she was under arrest. The officer then asked Dorweiler “if there was anything she would like to take with her to the jail,” and she told him “that she wanted to put on a bra.” The officer and Dorweiler walked through the living room and the kitchen to the doorway of the bedroom. They “discussed some paperwork she had,” and Dorweiler asked the officer “what was going to happen.” The officer responded that they “were going to go down to the [Penobscot County Jail].”

Dorweiler went into the bedroom and closed the door behind her. After some time, the officer could not hear any noise coming from the bedroom, so he opened the door and discovered that the bedroom window was open and Dorweiler was gone. The officer learned from Dorweiler after she was apprehended that she had exited through the bedroom window, gone to a friend’s house, called her father, and had him drive her to Madawaska.

The court 

 On this record, we conclude that the trier of fact rationally could have found beyond a reasonable doubt that Dorweiler had submitted to arrest: Dorweiler acknowledged that the   heard the officer’s statement that she was under arrest, and said that she wanted to put on an item of clothing in response to the officer asking her if there was anything she would like to take with her to jail. Based on Dorweiler’s show of submission, the officer “asserted as much control over [Dorweiler] as the situation reasonably permitted or necessitated,” Donahue, 420 A.2d at 937, and did not need to accompany Dorweiler into the bedroom while she changed in order to effect the arrest.

We are not persuaded by Dorweiler’s argument that the court could not have found that she had submitted because she did not subjectively intend to submit and instead “manipulated” the officer in order to carry out her flight. To accept Dorweiler’s argument that her subjective intent controls the determination of whether she submitted to arrest would add a factor to the arrest analysis not previously considered by us or required by the escape statute and could lead to increased use of physical force by law enforcement to arrest defendants no matter their demonstrations of acquiescence

 She got 14 days in jail. (Mike Frisch)