A judge has denied a Concord man’s request to suppress incriminating statements he made to police in an attempted murder case that is scheduled to go to trial next month.
Paul Loukedes, 47, is accused of purposefully crashing a 2011 Ford Fusion on Branch Turnpike in Concord on Feb. 13. Police allege Loukedes had threatened to kill himself and his wife, who was a passenger in the vehicle, just before he aimed for a telephone pole at a high speed. The car instead struck a white picket fence and a cement wall before sliding into a house, which did not sustain any structural damage.
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.
His attorneys argued in court earlier this month that Loukedes made statements to officers in a cruiser and while in the booking area of the Concord Police Department, but that no one read him his Miranda rights until two and a half hours after his arrest. They said when he was finally told of his rights, it was unclear whether he understood each one and if he had any questions.
Prosecutors argued Loukedes was coherent despite being under the influence of alcohol, and that he made the statements spontaneously, so Miranda protections did not apply.
Concord police officers Stephen Martel and Sarah Wyszneski testified at county prosecutors’ request during the evidentiary hearing Aug. 6. Martel said he was tasked with transporting Loukedes to the police department and with supervising the defendant, not with questioning him because it wasn’t his case. Rather, Wyszneski, who had responded to the crash scene, later made her way to the station to review the Miranda form with Loukedes line-by-line before he was interviewed.
Police reports include several statements Loukedes made on the ride to the Concord Police Department and while in a holding cell at the station to include: “I did not kill my wife did I” and “I hope my wife is okay.”
Judge Richard McNamara agreed with prosecutors in an 11-page order, signed Aug. 16, that Loukedes’s statements were “intelligently and voluntarily” made, and should be admissible at trial.
“The Defendant was not interrogated by Martel. The statements made by the Defendant to Martel during transportation and booking and while he was in the holding cell prior to being interviewed by Wysznski were spontaneous, and the procedural requirements of Miranda are therefore inapplicable,” McNamara wrote.
Jury selection is scheduled for Sept. 11 in Merrimack County Superior Court in Concord.