Dedicated to Seeking Fairness for the Randall Daluz Case
Below are just a few of the facts of my case. There were many egregious issues which prevented me from receiving a fair and just trial. What happened to me is a prime example of what is wrong with the system in Maine.
The police had no evidence that I had anything to do with the murders. Early on in their investigation, they lied to the cellphone company. They claimed that I was in possession of a cellphone and provided the phone number. They said they needed the phone records because they had evidence that I committed the murders and they needed the records to track me down in order to protect the public. They claimed exigent circumstances in order to obtain the records without a warrant. First off, they had zero evidence that I did anything or that I was even there. In fact, the evidence shows that Sexton alone picked the victims up. They had scant evidence that I used that phone at that time. They lied to the phone company because they did not use the phone to track me. Thus, there was no reason they couldn't have waited for a warrant. They then took those illegally obtained records to try and tie me to the murders and to fraudulently get an indictment. A year later after I got indicted and after they lied to obtain those records, they sought and received a warrant. My first appellate attorney conveniently left the fact that they illegally obtained the records out of my first appeal.
My trial lawyer, Jeffrey Silverstein, used to represent Dan Borders on three different cases. Borders was one of the victims in my case. Silverstein never disclosed that fact to me. Under the constitution, I have a right to conflict-free representation. There should have been a disclosure. There also should have been a hearing to discover the nature of the conflict. At that hearing, I should have been asked by the judge whether or not I wanted to waive my right to conflict-free representation. No such hearing took place, neither was I ever given a waiver to sign. Which means that I was denied due process. Silverstein hired an 82-year-old man who hadn't worked on cellphones since the 1970s. He told me that the guy was the only expert he could find. The state destroyed him on the stand. The jury laughed at him. Silverstein would not let me listen to or view the witness statements. He changed the original opening statement. I told him I wanted to testify. The statement he issued would have made me seem like a liar had I later took the stand. His tactic was that the state couldn't prove its case and I wasn't there during any part of the crime. That's not what we agreed on before trial. I wanted to tell the truth and there is plenty of scientific evidence to support my statement. Most notably is the fact that Sexton tried to shoot me in the head on the night of the murders. The gun clicked but did not fire. I told police that I believed the gun had run out of bullets and that, I said, was the only reason that I am still alive. Seven months after I told the police that, the murder weapon was found. Upon examination at the crime lab, police discovered that there was a live bullet that had misfired, still in the chamber. That bullet corroborated my statement. If the jury would have heard that testimony, I believe I would be free today. There are many other facts in evidence to support my statement, even eyewitness statements.
Silverstein failed to object to several racial comments that Sexton's team injected into the trial. He failed to hire experts to dispel Sexton's wild lies. He failed to ask for a mistrial when a juror admitted that someone in his family knew one of the victims. He failed to request a change of venue. He also hired a private eye who did nothing to help my case. In fact, the P.I. went to speak to a witness and then went to the police to tell them that the witness had new statements to make. She now claimed to have seen me with a gun. Even though she had never mentioned anything like that in her six prior statements. My own P.I influenced her against me. Silverstein failed to call a witness to the stand that Sexton confessed to saying he alone committed the murders and admitted to trying to kill me to silence me. There are many other things that Silverstein did to sabotage my case.
Silverstein failed to object to several racial comments that Sexton's team injected into the trial. He failed to hire experts to dispel Sexton's wild lies. He failed to ask for a mistrial when a juror admitted that someone in his family knew one of the victims. He failed to request a change of venue. He also hired a private eye who did nothing to help my case. In fact, the P.I. went to speak to a witness and then went to the police to tell them that the witness had new statements to make. She now claimed to have seen me with a gun. Even though she had never mentioned anything like that in her six prior statements. My own P.I influenced her against me. Silverstein failed to call a witness to the stand that Sexton confessed to saying he alone committed the murders and admitted to trying to kill me to silence me. There are many other things that Silverstein did to sabotage my case.
Cops interviewed a former block mate that I was housed within county. They claim the recorder magically shut off on its own. They influenced his statement. I never spoke to anyone about my case while I was housed in that block.
There are records that are missing from discovery such as any reports surrounding Sexton's arrest. It stands to reason that he may have confessed to the people whose house he was hiding in. Yet, they conveniently left those records out. There are recordings of phone calls I made from the police station when I was arrested. On those calls, my sister told me that Sexton was hunting for me. Yet he claimed during trial he was afraid of me. Those too are missing.
I was represented by Jamesa Drake on my first appeal. I asked her not to file her brief until I had read it. I wanted to make sure nothing was left out. She filed the brief without showing me and without crucial elements such as the fact that the state lied in order to illegally gain the cellphone data and then used that ill-gotten material to illegally indict me. I scolded her in an email. I found out that I could file a response to the SJC's decision to deny my appeal as long as said response was filed within 10 days. I then asked Jamesa, via email, to ask the court for an additional 30 days so that I could file my own response pro se. I wanted the opportunity to file my own response so that I could raise those crucial issues myself. She ignored my request and filed her own response which again excluded my issues and made it impossible for me to ever raise them again. Thereby sabotaging my appeal.
As I stated previously, my trial lawyers (Jeff Silverstein and Hunter Tzovarras) failed to object to racially charged comments made by my co-defendant's lawyer (Jeff Toothacher). In his opening statement, Toothacher starts his insertion of race by telling a story about a man who was accused of stealing a black chicken. Later the man was exonerated because the police found white feathers in his house. If the man would have had black feathers he would have been guilty, but the white feathers proved his innocence. When my co-defendant took the stand, Toothacher asked him what color the people are in the area I come from. (What does the color of the people in my neighborhood matter) (I should note that I actually grew up on Cape Cod in Hyannis. I attended Barnstable highschool. They claimed I was from Brockton to make it look like I grew up in a ghetto.) During his closing arguments, Toothacher said that " As a white man do you really need a gun to sell drugs to your white friends." The only inference one can draw from that is that as a person of color I would have a gun. Again, why would he mention race? Race had nothing to do with this case. What happened to me in that courtroom felt like a modern-day lynching.