A different kind of "bale"
By Andy Delaney
One off-schedule published entry order a week seems to be the
late-March theme at SCOV.
This case is also an appeal from a hold-without-bail order—or as I understand they call it in the biz, a “HWOB.” This particular HWOB results from an incident where defendant went to complainant’s hotel room in the evening, invited himself in, and had a not-exactly-wanted chat. The next day, complainant left her room and came back to—surprise!—defendant in her room. He said he’d crawled onto the top of his mom’s car and into the window. Seems totally normal, right? This also was “not exactly” wanted. Defendant wanted complainant to leave with him. At first complainant resisted, but after defendant started yelling, complainant acquiesced. Complainant eventually was able to get away from Prince Charming and called the police. Defendant was charged with two felonies (obstruction of justice and unlawful trespass) and two misdemeanors (stalking and aggravated disorderly conduct), along with a habitual-offender enhancement. The trial court ultimately ordered defendant HWOB after a weight-of-the-evidence hearing. In making that order, the trial court admitted defendant’s Vermont Crime Information Center (or VCIC) record check into evidence and found that the evidence of guilt was great. Defendant appeals, arguing that the trial court ought not have found great guilt and that his record check had to be certified. SCOV affirms on both prongs. Defendant first argues that the State failed to demonstrate he knew he was not licensed or privileged to be in the hotel room. SCOV basically says, “Dude. You say you crawled in through a window and she didn’t give you a key or permission!” On the certified-record-check question, there’s a statute that says a record check obtained from VCIC is admissible evidence in this state. SCOV considers defendant’s hearsay argument and rejects it. The record check comes in. Defendant stays HWOB for now. State v. Regimbald, 2022 VT 15 (mem.)
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