MEAD , J. [ 1] Anthony W. Pratt Jr. appeals from a judgment of conviction for murder, 17-A M.R.S. 201(1)(A) (2014), entered by the trial court (Cumberland County, Warren, J. ) following a jury trial. Pratt contends that the court erred in admitting in evidence an audio recording of his interview with a police detective, and in admitting evidence that Pratt had assaulted the victim hours before she was killed. We affirm the judgment. I. BACKGROUND [ 2] The jury could have found the...
HJELM , J. [ 1] Kristina I. Lowe appeals from a judgment of conviction for two counts of manslaughter (Class A), 17-A M.R.S. 203(1)(A) (2014), and aggravated leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident (Class C), 29-A M.R.S. 2252(5) (2014), entered by the trial court (Oxford County, Clifford, J. ) after a jury trial. Lowe contends that the court erred in the following ways, among others: denying her motion for a change of venue due to pre-trial publicity; denying her motion for a...
QUESTION PROPOUNDED BY THE GOVERNOR IN A COMMUNICATION DATED JULY 17, 2015 To the Honorable Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court: Please accept my request for an Opinion of the Justices of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court pursuant to Article VI, Section 3 of the Maine Constitution. I seek your advice upon important questions of law regarding my constitutional obligation to faithfully execute the laws, specifically, 65 bills vetoed by me on July 16, 2015, 17 of which are emergency...
MEAD , J. [ 1] Dennis J. Dechaine appeals from a judgment of the Superior Court (Knox County, Bradford, J. ) denying his motion for a new trial, which was brought pursuant to the post-conviction DNA analysis statute, 15 M.R.S. 2136-2138 (2014). Dechaine contends that the court erred or abused its discretion in (1) finding that the new DNA evidence admitted at the hearing, "when considered with all the other evidence in the case, old and new," did not make it probable that a different...
SAUFLEY , C.J. [ 1] In this matter of first impression, we are called upon to address the constitutionality of the process that the Legislature has provided for a Probate Court to establish a guardianship for a child who has been in the care of a "de facto guardian" for an identified period of time without a parent's consistent participation in the child's life. See 18-A M.R.S. 5-204(d) (2014). Marc Chamberlain, the father of two children who have been in the care of their maternal...
JABAR , J. [ 1] Andrew J. Kierstead appeals from a judgment of conviction of murder, 17-A M.R.S. 201(1)(A) (2014), entered in the trial court ( Hjelm, J. ) after a jury trial. Kierstead argues that the court erred in denying his motion to suppress statements he made to law enforcement officers in the hours following the murder. 1 Finding no error, we affirm the judgment. I. FACTS [ 2] On October 10, 2012, a Knox County Grand Jury returned an indictment charging Kierstead with...
MEAD , J . [ 1] Patricia Galouch appeals from an entry of summary judgment by the Superior Court (Kennebec County, Murphy, J. ) in favor of the Department of Professional and Financial Regulation (Department) on her claim that the Department violated her rights under the Maine Human Rights Act (MHRA), 5 M.R.S. 4572 (2014), and the Maine Whistleblowers' Protection Act (WPA), 26 M.R.S. 833 (2014). Galouch contends that the court erred in concluding that she did not (1) engage in...
MEAD , J. [ 1] In these related cases, all parties are practicing Maine attorneys or Maine law firms. In both matters, (1) complaints, cross-claims, and counterclaims were filed in the Superior Court (Cumberland County, Wheeler, J. ) asserting various theories of entitlement to all or part of a $1.24 million attorney fee generated in a civil judgment in another matter; (2) the court denied the motion of Daniel G. Lilley and Daniel G. Lilley Law Offices, P.A., to consolidate the matters...
HJELM, J. [ 1] Jerry Lee Adams appeals from a judgment convicting him of aggravated trafficking of scheduled drugs (Class A), 17-A M.R.S. 1105-A(1)(B) (2014), and refusal to submit to arrest or detention (Class E), 17-A M.R.S. 751-B(1)(A) (2014), entered in the Superior Court (York County, O'Neil, J. ) after a jury trial. Adams argues that the court erred by sustaining the State's objection to questions about the nature of the locale where the crime allegedly occurred. He also...
GORMAN , J. [ 1] Pursuant to 4 M.R.S. 57 (2014) and M.R.App. P. 25, the United States District Court for the District of Maine ( Hornby, J. ) has certified a question of state law for our review: Where a. a junior mortgagee obtains a Maine District Court judgment of foreclosure and sale against a debtor/mortgagor (the senior mortgagee not being a party to the action) and the judgment provides that proceeds shall go first to the junior mortgagee, next to a still more junior mortgagee,...
JABAR , J. [ 1] John Doe XLVI appeals from a judgment of the Superior Court (Kennebec County, Murphy, J. ) denying his request for declaratory relief and a temporary restraining order. Doe argues that Maine's Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act of 1999 (SORNA), 34-A M.R.S. 11201 to 11256 (2012), 1 as applied to him violates the Bill of Attainder, Due Process, and Separation of Powers Clauses of the Maine Constitution. 2 [ 2] The trial court determined that as applied to...
