Opinion ID: 1442279
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Admissibility of the firearm in evidence

Text: At trial on the current charge of possession of a firearm by a felon, the defendant objected to the introduction of the weapon in evidence on the ground that the State failed to establish the necessary chain of custody, which, it is contended, is the foundational basis for its admissibility. Proof of a chain of custody, i. e. an unbroken continuity of possession by the police authorities, is not necessarily required to support the admissibility of an exhibit when the issue involved is its identity. As we said in State v. Thibodeau, Me., 353 A.2d 595, 603 (1976): We recognize that the custody of an exhibit readily identifiable by distinguishing features or hardly subject to change does not require the safeguards necessary to preserve the integrity of real evidence of a fungible or volatile nature which may be easily destroyed by natural or other forces. It is obvious that the same protective measures need not be taken to preserve the evidentiary probative value of such an exhibit as a coffee pot [here a pistol] as should surround the chain of custody of a bag of narcotics. Here, the pistol, which the court allowed in evidence over the defendant's objection, bore the same serial number as the weapon seized from the defendant on February 16, 1970 and exhibited an X identical to that scratched upon it by the testifying witness, in addition to testimony that in its overall outward appearance, the exhibit was indistinguishable from the firearm found on the defendant. The identifying markings on the pistol, independently of the chain of custody, were adequate indicia of the identity of the firearm involved to support the admissibility of the exhibit in evidence. See also State v. Eldridge, Me., 334 A.2d 862, 866 (1975); State v. Mosher, Me., 270 A.2d 451, 453 (1970).