HOULTON, Maine — A former Presque Isle man convicted of several sex crimes for abusing a young girl is appealing the case to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, arguing that several errors were made during the trial process.
Gregory Olah was sentenced on Dec. 2, 2016, to 14 years incarceration with all but 7 years suspended for gross sexual assault, and to a concurrent term of 42 months for unlawful sexual contact. He also was ordered to serve 6 years of probation when he gets out of prison.
The charges were filed after the victim told her therapist that Olah had sexually abused her when she was about 5-years-old both at her home and at the home of a friend of Olah’s. She kept the abuse a secret until she turned 17 and began suffering mental health problems, and then finally disclosed the abuse to a therapist.
During oral arguments on his appeal before the state’s highest court on Thursday, Olah’s attorney, Hunter Tzovarras, argued that the trial court erred in quashing a subpoena directing the mental-health therapist to provide the victim’s counseling records for review in the judge’s chambers. Tzovarras also said the court erred in denying a defense motion to suppress statements Olah made to police because he was interrogated without Miranda warnings and was made a promise of leniency.
Tzovarras is seeking to have the case overturned and remanded back to the trial court.
Aroostook County Deputy District Attorney Carrie Linthicum argued Thursday that the court did not make a mistake when quashing a subpoena directing the victim’s therapist to provide counseling records. She said that the defense wanted to go on a “fishing expedition” for the purpose of searching for any potential information that might be used to impeach the victim simply because she was in counseling.
Tzovarras denied this, arguing that they would “never know what is in there unless they have access to the records.”
Chief Justice Leigh I. Saufley noted that “speculation and a fishing expedition are a little bit related,” but Tzovarras continued to stress the importance of the documents.
“We understand she has confidentiality rights,” he said. “But in order to give my client a full defense, he needs to know how these accusations came about. What if the files say that she recanted or this was a dream? If the books close on this and we never get the files, we are blind in our defense.”
The Law Court will consider the arguments and issue a decision at a later date.
