Judge denies motions to throw out evidence, statements before Standish man’s murder trial

Brandon Libby, left, talks with his attorneys Matthew Crockett, center and Rob Andrews at the Cumberland County Superior Courthouse on Friday. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer

A Standish man facing a trial on a murder charge this summer lost his bid to have a judge toss out evidence and statements he made to police.

Attorneys for Brandon Libby, 36, argued this month that prosecutors shouldn’t use evidence obtained from his home during a warrantless search and statements he made to police before he was informed of his right to remain silent, because both were unconstitutional.

Libby was indicted on one count of murder in November 2021 for the death of his girlfriend Amanda Brown, who was found dead in their home that summer. He pleaded not guilty on Nov. 8, 2021. His jury trial is scheduled for June 10.

Police were first notified of a shooting on June 16, 2021, when they received reports that Brown had been shot in the stomach. They forced their way into Brown and Libby’s Standish home that morning without a warrant, but Libby wasn’t there.

Libby’s attorneys played a video from police when they were entering the Standish home during a hearing in Cumberland County Superior Court on Feb. 2. They argued the footage and all other evidence obtained through the warrantless search violated Libby’s Fourth Amendment rights, prohibiting unreasonable search and seizure.

But the state argued during the hearing that this evidence was fair game under the emergency aid doctrine, and Superior Court Justice MaryGay Kennedy agreed. Police only entered without a warrant because there was a chance Brown needed their help, she ruled.

“Indeed, if officers had received an unequivocal report of a dead body or a shooting that had occurred long ago, there may not be a reasonable basis for believing that the victim needed assistance,” Kennedy wrote. “At the time they breached the house, however, officers were acting on information that a woman had been shot relatively recently and may be deceased. It was reasonable to believe that she needed immediate aid.”

While some officers were at the Standish house on June 16, 2021, Libby was in North Waterboro, barricaded inside his ex-fiancée’s home. Libby didn’t come outside until about 3 p.m., according to court records, after negotiating with police.

When he stepped out, a K-9 bit him in the chest. Maine State Police detectives then accompanied him to the hospital in an ambulance, and stayed with him until after he received medical treatment.

During that time, Libby made a number of statements to detectives, who testified on Feb. 2 they weren’t actively interrogating him. Detectives waited until that evening to read him his rights, after getting approval from a doctor.

Libby’s attorneys argued that this delay was “an impermissible tactic intended to induce Mr. Libby to reveal incriminating information.” They argued detectives should’ve read told him he had a right to remain silent and a right to an attorney when they first took him into custody.

But Kennedy was satisfied with the state’s objection that detectives had only waited so long because they didn’t think it was appropriate to question Libby before he was treated for his injuries.

“There was no deliberate attempt to elicit a prewarning confession or undermine the efficacy of the Miranda warnings eventually given,” she wrote.