AUBURN — A Lewiston man charged in the hit-and-run death of his pregnant ex-girlfriend last year waived his right Monday to have a lawyer represent him at his murder trial.
Speaking through an interpreter in Androscoggin County Superior Court, Evaristo Antonio de Deus, 34, of 37 Union St., told Justice MaryGay Kennedy that he wanted to represent himself despite his lack of familiarity with the law, training in court procedure and his knowledge of the mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years in prison, should he be convicted.
Deus is accused of running down his ex-girlfriend, Laudrinha Kubeloso, 32, with his SUV on Howe Street on Sept. 23, 2014. Kubeloso, who was four months pregnant, died later at a Lewiston hospital.
Deus appeared in court Monday dressed in an orange jail suit, his hands cuffed. He spoke through an interpreter, who translated English into Lingala, a French dialect that serves as a Bantu language in northwestern Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola.
Kennedy had Joseph Rugenera of Portland sworn in as interpreter after he answered Kennedy’s questions about his qualifications in that job and after he assured her he had a working knowledge of legal terms used in criminal courts in Maine.
After quizzing Deus at length about his motivation and his understanding of how it might compromise his legal defense, Kennedy accepted his waiver and said he could control his legal representation, but assigned two court-appointed defense attorneys to be available to Deus to assist him throughout the legal process.
“It is highly unlikely that I would permit you to represent yourself only,” Kennedy said.
She eventually said she would appoint as “stand-by” counsel Deus’ current defense lawyer, Justin Leary, as well as defense attorney Henry Griffin, praising them as highly respected and competent in criminal matters.
“Do you understand that if you represent yourself there are many dangers in proceeding to trial without counsel?” Kennedy asked. She reminded Deus that he has a constitutional right to be represented by an attorney.
He said he understood his rights as well as the judge’s warnings.
At one point, Deus asked the judge to provide him with the rules of criminal procedure. Kennedy said she couldn’t play any role in his defense.
“The court cannot and will not act as your coach and adviser,” she said.
Kennedy also reminded him that the prosecutor assigned to his case is an experienced trial lawyer who is practiced at courtroom criminal procedure. Assistant Attorney General Deborah Cashman successfully tried two murder cases in that courtroom last year.
The hearing was held in response to a motion filed by Leary to withdraw as legal counsel at his client’s request.
Deus alternately complained Monday that the process had taken too long and that his attorney hadn’t discussed with him what sort of defense he might present at trial. Leary said he had discussed “various defenses” with Deus.
Kennedy called a recess to give time for Leary to review with Deus his defense options.
When the hearing resumed, Deus insisted he should represent himself, providing as an example of his attorney’s “negligence” the fact that Deus had instructed him to hire a private detective to speak to his neighbor.
When asked by Kennedy about that on Monday, Leary said he had, in fact, hired a private detective for the case early on in the legal process.
Deus said there were “many lies” in police reports that Leary shared with him.
Asked again whether he wanted to change his mind about waiving his right to counsel, Deus told Kennedy that it was his decision to give up his right to be represented by an attorney.
“I’m an adult,” he said. “No one can force me or influence me.”
A trial isn’t expected before spring.
Starting in September, Deus had written two letters to the court clerk and one to Justice Kennedy seeking to represent himself.
Court clerks, defense attorneys and prosecutors at the courthouse here couldn’t remember a time when a murder suspect had represented himself at trial.
According to a police report, an eyewitness to the murder said he was on the second-floor balcony of his Howe Street home Sept. 23, 2014, at 3 p.m. when he heard a “loud thud.” He looked down the street and saw a blue SUV hit a woman, “run her over and continue driving.” That witness said the driver was a black man wearing a blue shirt.
A second witness told police he was on the second-floor balcony of the same building, smoking a cigarette, when he heard what sounded like a vehicle running over an empty box. He described seeing a woman lying motionless in the street, and a similar vehicle and driver.
Deus was captured by authorities in New York minutes before his flight was due to depart JFK airport for Haiti. Police later recovered Deus’ vehicle in a parking lot at the the University of New England in Portland, its license plates missing and its front passenger side damaged.
He has been held without bail since.
Police said the passenger side of the headlight framing matched the make, model and color of the vehicle registered to Deus.
Police learned from Wal-Mart in Auburn, where Deus worked, that he had clocked out of work at 1:32 p.m. that day. He was seen leaving the parking lot at 2:04 p.m., wearing a blue shirt and driving his dark blue Suzuki Grand Vitara SUV. At 3:01 p.m., his vehicle is seen on surveillance cameras turning onto Howe Street.
Kubeloso, who was from Angola, had been a volunteer at Hope House on College Street in Lewiston and had been enrolled in adult education classes. She had sought asylum in the U.S. seven months earlier.
Deus had been living in Lewiston for less than a year, most recently on Union Street.
According to the police report, the couple had been dating for about four months, but had had domestic problems for months. They had split up and had barely spoken for three weeks before Kubeloso’s death.
The court ordered a mental examination for Deus by state psychologists into his mental state at the time that the victim was killed in an effort to determine whether he was criminally responsible for her death, according to state law.
cwilliams@sunjournal.com
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