State of Maine v. Andrew J. Kierstead, 114 A.3d 984

On Sept. 27, 2012, Andrew Kierstead shot and killed Richard Mills; Kierstead then ingested Mills’s Vicodin in a suicide attempt and later called 9-1-1 to report the shooting.
Officers arrived to find Kierstead calm, coherent, ambulatory, and responsive; he was read Miranda warnings and agreed to speak; two recorded interviews were conducted at the scene and at the police station.
Medical personnel evaluated Kierstead multiple times that evening; vitals were largely normal except elevated pulse; he vomited on two occasions and later tested at the hospital with a .054% BAC and signs of low-level acetaminophen toxicity.
A physician extrapolated that Kierstead’s BAC might have been as high as .20% earlier, opining that level could cause loss of consciousness or slurred speech, but no observers at the scene reported such impairment.
Kierstead moved to suppress his statements, arguing intoxication and emotional distress rendered them involuntary; the trial court denied suppression and a jury convicted him of murder; sentence of 45 years was affirmed on review.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Kierstead’s post-shooting statements were involuntary due to intoxication/emotional state	Kierstead: his alcohol, Vicodin/acetaminophen ingestion, and suicidal state rendered him incapable of voluntary, knowing, intelligent statements	State: despite substance use and emotional distress, Kierstead was lucid, cooperative, understood Miranda, and answered coherently; no police coercion	Court: Statements voluntary; totality of circumstances show they were the product of a rational mind and not coerced; suppression denied
Whether sentence (45 years) was inappropriate	Kierstead: sentence review panel appeal argued error/abuse of discretion in length of sentence	State: sentence within statutory bounds and properly exercised discretion	Court: No error in sentencing; sentence affirmed

State v. Collier, 66 A.3d 563 (Me. 2013) (standard for viewing suppression-evidence and appellate review)
State v. Bryant, 97 A.3d 595 (Me. 2014) (voluntariness standard: free choice of a rational mind; totality of circumstances)
State v. Ormsby, 81 A.3d 336 (Me. 2013) (upholding denial of suppression if any reasonable view of evidence supports trial court)
State v. Lowe, 81 A.3d 360 (Me. 2013) (drug or emotional impairment alone does not automatically render statements involuntary)
State v. Ashe, 425 A.2d 191 (Me. 1981) (evaluate capacity to act voluntarily under the totality of circumstances)
State v. Coombs, 704 A.2d 387 (Me. 1998) (assessing involuntariness where impairment alleged)
State v. Philbrick, 481 A.2d 488 (Me. 1984) (emotional distress and suicidal statements considered in context when determining voluntariness)