Tuesday, May 22, 2012
DANIEL FORTUNE TRIAL
By Betty Adams badams@centralmaine.com
Staff Writer
SKOWHEGAN -- A man guilty of maiming a father and daughter in a 2008 Pittston home invasion testified Monday at a co-defendant's trial he recalls little of the days surrounding the incident.
Leo R. Hylton, 20, was the only witness Monday in Somerset County Superior Court -- the third day of the trial of Daniel L. Fortune, 22.
The two men, who had been foster brothers, shared an Augusta apartment when they were arrested and charged in connection with a predawn machete attack on William Guerrette Jr. and his daughter, Nicole, then 10.
Both Guerrettes were left with permanent injuries. Three other family members who were home the morning of May 27, 2008, were not injured.
Hylton pleaded guilty to charges related to the home invasion and was sentenced Feb. 26 to 90 years in prison, with all but 50 years suspended, and 15 years' probation.
The 6-foot-6 Hylton took the witness stand Monday wearing a two-piece orange jail uniform, his hands cuffed to a belt around his waist and his ankles shackled.
He repeatedly said, "I do not recall" to the prosecutor's questions about clothing, weapons and his prior statements to investigators.
Hylton's attorney, Lisa Whittier, watched him testify after having sought to prevent the testimony, citing Hylton's legal appeals.
But Justice Michaela Murphy said Monday a three-judge panel denied Hylton's request last week to have his sentence reviewed.
"You have no Fifth Amendment privilege and you will ordered to answer every question," Murphy told Hylton on Monday. "This is not a game. There is much at stake for both sides."
Murphy met with attorneys for Hylton, Fortune and the state prior to her ruling, out of the presence of jurors, that Hylton must testify.
Hylton told the court Monday he had let William Guerrette into his apartment on Sewall Street in Augusta on Nov. 20, 2007 -- several days after a safe containing more than $100,000 in currency had been reported stolen from Guerrette's home.
Hylton testified that Guerrette located the stolen safe -- broken open and largely empty -- on the floor of a closet in Fortune's room.
An affidavit by Kennebec County Sheriff's Office Deputy Michael S. Durham indicates that, shortly afterward, Guerrette reported his find to police, and Fortune was arrested and charged with theft.
Responding to a question from Fortune's attorney, Hylton said he felt bad about allowing Guerrette into the apartment.
Hylton also testified he knew Fortune had failed to appear for a trial on the theft charge, and that an arrest warrant had been issued for Fortune.
In response to a question by the prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Alan Kelley, Hylton said he didn't remember that bail on that warrant had been set at $1,000.
Kelley asked a number of questions about the morning of the home invasion.
He asked Hylton if he remembered admitting to stealing his aunt's car and driving it to the Guerrette home in Pittston.
"I don't recall," Hylton responded.
Kelley asked, "Did you tell him (Detective Jason Richards) you went out for a walk?"
"I do not recall," Hylton said.
"Did you tell him you borrowed your aunt's car for a joy ride around Augusta?" Kelley asked.
"I don't recall," Hylton said.
"Were you high on drugs or alcohol?" Kelley asked.
"I do not recall," Hylton said.
"Where your recollection gets dim is where it comes to what you and Dan did that night?" Kelley asked.
"Yes," Hylton replied.
Hylton also testified that a photograph of two men walking near the Muskie Federal Building on State Street on the morning of May 27, 2008, could have been of him and Fortune.
Hylton testified he could recall almost nothing from his Feb. 26 sentencing hearing in Kennebec County -- not even a letter of apology he had written to the Guerrette family.
Kelley asked whether Hylton remembered being arrested May 29, 2008, two days after the home invasion occurred.
"It was in the paper," Hylton said.
Hylton identified a collection of knives -- including matched pairs of folding knives and deeply curved knives -- which he testified he had received from his father.
Hylton also testified he owned a machete -- saying he had been given one to clear brush in his landscaping work -- but said he did not recognize the one Kelley showed him in court.
"I thought it was black," Hylton said.
Law enforcement officers found the machete in an overgrown ditch near Nelson Road in Pittston. In the same area, they also found black sweatpants, black sneakers and a black "do rag."
Shown those items in court, Hylton testified he didn't recognize any of them.
Hylton pleaded guilty May 29, 2009, to three counts of attempted murder and one count each of robbery and burglary in connection with the home invasion.
He later sought to recant those pleas, saying his decision to plead guilty "was entirely motivated by Mr. Hylton's promise to ... Fortune that he would take the blame for everything that happened" in the machete attack, according to court documents.
A judge refused to allow Hylton to withdraw his guilty pleas, and he was later sentenced.
Emergency responders testified Friday that William Guerrette told them it was not Daniel Fortune he had seen in his house that morning; it was a tall, thin black man who was unknown to him.
In this opening statement, Kelley said Hylton and Fortune went to the Guerrette home to rob it to get bail money for Fortune. Kelley described for jurors the legal principle of accomplice liability.
"The law tells us a person can be guilty of a crime as an accomplice," Kelley said. "Whether it was Leo Hylton who struck (William) and Nicole, or Daniel Fortune, each is an accomplice of the other."
At the close of Hylton's testimony Monday afternoon, the judge told him he could be called to testify again.
Fortune is charged with aggravated attempted murder, elevated aggravated assault, robbery, burglary, theft and conspiracy to commit robbery, among other offenses. The trial is to resume today at 9 a.m., and is to continue through Monday.
Betty Adams -- 621-5631
badams@centralmaine.com
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