Opinion ID: 2844015
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Testimony of Earl Lowe

Text: [¶20] Lowe next contends that the court erred by denying her motion for a mistrial based on testimony of her father, Earl Lowe, about statements that she made in the hospital after the accident. Lowe moved for a mistrial both immediately after Earl’s direct testimony, which the court denied at sidebar, and after trial in a written motion, which the court denied after a full testimonial hearing. Both motions were based on Lowe’s contention that Earl’s testimony to the jury described statements that Lowe argues were made during the portion of her interview with Edstrom that the court suppressed before trial due to a Miranda violation. “Because the trial court has a superior vantage point, we review the denial of a motion for a mistrial for an abuse of discretion. We will overrule the denial of a mistrial only in the event of exceptionally prejudicial circumstances or prosecutorial bad faith.” State v. Logan, 2014 ME 92, ¶ 14, 97 A.3d 121 (citation omitted) (quotation marks omitted). 12 [¶21] Earl testified that he spoke with Lowe about the crash when they were at Maine Medical Center before Lowe’s interview with Edstrom and while Edstrom was present. Lowe argues that Earl’s testimony about the timing of the conversation must be incorrect, because it conflicts with testimony by both Edstrom and Lowe’s mother, who testified at the post-trial hearing, that Earl was not with Lowe in her hospital room before the interview. Because, Lowe argues, Earl’s testimony about the timing of Lowe’s statements cannot be true, he must have actually testified about statements Lowe made during the portion of the interview with Edstrom that was suppressed, and the court should have granted her a mistrial because the introduction of testimony about suppressed portions of the interview was unfairly prejudicial. [¶22] What Lowe’s argument overlooks, however, is that the statements by Lowe that Earl testified about could have been made at any time, not just during the interview. In fact, both Edstrom and Earl himself testified that Earl was not present at any time during Edstrom’s interview with Lowe, and there is no evidence that he was in fact in the room when she made the statements to Edstrom that were later suppressed. Additionally, the statement that Earl described included information that went beyond the statement Lowe made to Edstrom, suggesting that it was not the same statement. Lowe therefore did not establish that Earl’s 13 testimony referred to statements she made during the suppressed portion of the interview. [¶23] Moreover, as the trial court pointed out in its order denying Lowe’s motion for a mistrial, several other witnesses had already testified that Lowe made similar statements to them, thus rendering Earl’s testimony cumulative. Even if Earl’s testimony was inaccurate about when he spoke with Lowe, therefore, it was not “exceptionally prejudicial,” see Logan, 2014 ME 92, ¶ 14, 97 A.3d 121,5 and the court did not abuse its discretion when it denied Lowe’s motion for a mistrial.6