A Concord man accused of purposefully crashing a car in an attempt to kill himself and his wife is arguing that incriminating statements he made to police while in custody in February should be inadmissible at trial.
Defense attorneys maintain that Paul Loukedes, 47, interacted with officers in a cruiser and while in the booking area of the police department, but that no one read him his Miranda rights until two and a half hours after he was arrested. Further, police records are unclear about whether Loukedes understood each right, whether he acknowledged each right line-by-line, or whether he had any questions, public defender Jeremy Clemans wrote in a recent motion.
On the ride to the Concord Police Department, Loukedes allegedly said to police, “I did not kill my wife did I,” and he asked questions about the charges he was facing, according to court documents. Further when at the station, he made comments like “I hope my wife is okay” and “It will give me a break from life get me away from my wife and child support.”
Police allege Loukedes tried to drive a 2011 Ford Fusion into a telephone pole at a high speed, but that the car instead struck a white picket fence and a cement wall before sliding into a house at 33 Branch Turnpike on Feb. 13. Loukedes’s wife told police she climbed out of the passenger’s side window and took refuge in a nearby home.
She later said a verbal argument had ensued after she told her husband that she needed a break in their relationship and was going to Florida to visit her sister.
Loukedes faces charges of attempted murder, criminal threatening, reckless conduct, criminal mischief, conduct after an accident, operating after suspension, resisting arrest and driving while intoxicated, in addition to three motor vehicle-related violations in connection with the incident.
According to police reports, he appeared intoxicated, was unable to stay awake in the booking cell and exhibited “erratic behavior” while in custody. Based on that information, his attorneys argue, he was not in the right mental state to understand his Miranda rights and agree to talk to police.
But prosecutors say Loukedes was coherent – so much so that he reviewed an administrative license suspension rights form and chose not to sign it.
Assistant Merrimack County Attorney Wayne Coull wrote in his objection to the motion to suppress that there is nothing in officers’ reports to indicate that Loukedes was “incoherent or otherwise incapacitated” even though he had been drinking earlier that day.
“The statements in both the police cruiser and the booking cell were spontaneous statements volunteered by the defendant,” Coull wrote.
He goes on to say, “Because both statements were spontaneous, Miranda protections did not apply.”
A hearing on the motion to suppress is scheduled for Aug. 6 in Merrimack County Superior Court in Concord. A jury trial was also scheduled to begin next month but was postponed until September at attorneys’ request.
(Alyssa Dandrea can be reached at 369-3319, adandrea@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @_ADandrea.)