Opinion ID: 2388781
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Suppression of Defendant's Criminal Record

Text: The defendant filed with the Court below a pre-trial motion to have the defendant's prior criminal record suppressed for use for impeachment purposes in the interest, as he argues, of fair play and substantial justice, since the defendant's possible involvement in the case depended upon circumstantial evidence. The presiding Justice denied the motion. We see no error. Initially, counsel's strategic maneuver would raise as an issue the propriety of testing the admissibility of documentary evidence of records of conviction as well as testimonial evidence of identity of the person whose record of conviction is sought to be introduced by means of a pre-trial motion to suppress. In State v. Perkins, Me., 275 A.2d 586 (1971), we held that a motion to suppress like type of evidence was not within the contemplated operational scope of either Rule 12 or Rule 41, M.R.Crim.P. However, in recognition of the Superior Court's inherent power of control over the procedures to be used in the trial of cases within its jurisdiction, provided the same are consistent with the Constitution of the State of Maine, our rules of court, or any applicable statute, and, in accord with Rule 57, M.R.Crim.P., which states that when no procedure is specifically prescribed the court shall proceed in any lawful manner not inconsistent with the Constitution of the State of Maine, these rules, or any applicable statutes, this Court has sanctioned pre-trial determination on motions to suppress of such questions as the admissibility of confessions and in-court or out-of-court identifications. See State v. Fernald, Me., 248 A.2d 754 (1968); State v. Barlow, Me., 320 A.2d 895 (1974). In Barlow, we said that such preliminary determinations may serve the interests of expeditious judicial administration, safeguard the purity of the trial and allow the accused an advance viewing of the case against him. Notwithstanding the desirability of such advance judicial ruling on the admissibility of his criminal record, should the accused at trial choose to be a witness in defense of his innocence, we view the use of the pre-trial motion to suppress for such purpose within the scope of the trial justice's discretion. See State v. Perkins, supra. We do not reach the issue, whether there was abuse of discretion in the trial Justice's denial of the defendant's motion to suppress, because the defendant-appellant failed to lay the foundation for a ruling by the Court below and for a decision by this Court. Indeed, the instant record discloses that no evidence was presented to the trial Court respecting the nature of the accused's criminal dossier, nor did the defendant proffer to stipulate as to his criminal convictions which he claimed should be suppressed, to the extent that the trial Justice remarked that there was nothing before him. The appealing party is duty bound to see that the record on appeal includes all that is necessary to enable the Law Court to decide whether the rulings of which he complains were or were not erroneous. He must affirmatively show that he was prejudicially aggrieved, a burden which cannot be left to inference. See State v. Gervais, Me., 317 A.2d 796 at 802 (1974); State v. Toppi, Me., 275 A.2d 805 at 813 (1971); Appeal of Bronson, 136 Me. 401, 11 A.2d 613 (1940); State v. Wombolt, 126 Me. 351, 353, 138 A. 527 (1927); State v. Dow, 122 Me. 448, 449, 120 A. 427.