Opinion ID: 2165207
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: M.R.Evid. 403 Rulings

Text: At the trial the Mondellos attempted to offer statements made to them by the three repairmen who serviced the stove. Presley prepared a note for the Mondellos at the time he serviced the stove to the effect that he found a small leak at the appliance regulator and that he detected something coming from the oven. He could not determine what type of detectable gas was coming from the oven. With regard to Blair, the Mondellos made no formal offer of proof as to the exact substance of his statements. It is clear from the record, however, that the trial court understood the purported statements to reflect that the stove was malfunctioning and that it was emitting byproducts of incomplete combustion. The court excluded the Presley and Blair statements pursuant to M.R.Evid. 403. [1] The court ultimately admitted the Romer statements after the Mondellos established that Romer acted as an agent for Brown's Appliance. The Mondellos also sought to impeach Blake Brown, the owner of Brown's Appliance, with a field corrective notice. On direct examination, Brown testified that he had never heard of a problem similar to that alleged by the Mondellos. The Mondellos sought to introduce the notice, which warned that certain 1986 and 1987 General Electric gas ranges might produce unsafe levels of carbon monoxide while operated in the self-cleaning cycle. Again, the trial court excluded the corrective notice pursuant to Rule 403. In reviewing a trial court's decision to exclude relevant evidence pursuant to Rule 403, we recognize that the trial court is in a better position than an appellate court to weigh unfair prejudice against probative value. State v. Poland, 426 A.2d 896, 898 (Me. 1981). For that reason, we review Rule 403 rulings only for an abuse of discretion. See State v. Robinson, 628 A.2d 664, 666 (Me. 1993). The court surmised that the jury would equate the statements of Blair and Presley with de facto expert testimony that the stove produced harmful byproducts of incomplete combustion. In the court's view, a cautionary instruction would have been unlikely to prevent the resulting prejudice. Given the limited probative value of the evidence, the court was within its discretion, pursuant to M.R.Evid. 403, to exclude the statements. The court was likewise within its discretion to exclude the field corrective notice. The Mondellos conceded that the notice did not apply to the specific gas range at issue in this case. They established neither that Brown's Appliance had received the notice nor that Brown himself had any personal knowledge of its existence. Moreover, the notice did not warn of the same defect alleged by the Mondellos in this case. In these circumstances the court could conclude that the potential prejudice outweighed the notice's limited impeachment value. The court committed no error by excluding the evidence.