Court Opinion

ID: 9753782
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 19:28:04.776666+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:27:42.021098
License: Public Domain

GLASSMAN, Justice,
with whom NICHOLS, Justice, joins, dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. The court’s limiting instruction concerning the admission of the testimony of the victim of other sexual acts of the defendant with the victim not encompassed by the indictment was manifest error. To ensure the basic integrity of the judicial process and the constitutional right of a defendant to a fundamentally fair trial, we notice an error that works substantial injustice even though, as here, it was not brought to the attention of the trial or appellate court. State v. Brunette, 501 A.2d 419, 423 (Me.1985); M.R.Crim.P. 52(b). Accordingly, this record is reviewed to determine, after considering all the circumstances of the trial, if there exists a “reasonable possibility” that a proper instruction would have resulted in a different verdict. State v. Michaud, 473 A.2d 399 (Me.1984).
The jury was instructed on three separate occasions as to the purpose for the admission of testimony concerning the defendant’s other sexual acts with the victim. Before the victim or the defendant testified, the trial court instructed the jury:
You may consider such testimony of such other sexual acts ... for the limited purpose of proving the relationship and mutual disposition of the parties as it may relate to opportunity or a course of conduct on the part of the Defendant and as it may bear on the credibility of the testimony of the witnesses in this case.
During the victim’s testimony, the court again instructed the jury:
I would again remind you of the instruction I gave you before concerning other acts of sexual activity ... other acts, if there is testimony concerning them, would be offered for the limited purpose as I indicated to you of showing opportunity, course of conduct, credibility of the witnesses, and the relationship of the parties; and those are limited purposes. ...
And, finally, at the conclusion of all the evidence, the trial court instructed:
Again, I would remind you of the instruction I gave you before. There has also been some testimony concerning other sexual acts, and that evidence was admitted before you for limited purposes, ... to show a course of conduct and the relationship of the parties and admitted as it relates to the credibility of the parties.
I do not dispute that evidence of other misconduct may be admissible when offered for purposes other than to prove a defendant’s character in order to show he acted in conformity therewith. See State v. Berry, 495 A.2d 1207, 1210 (Me.1985); M.R.Evid. 404(b) advisers’ note. However, in not one of the cases relied upon by the court was evidence of prior misconduct admitted as it related to a witness’s credibility. M.R.Evid. 608(b) clearly limits inquiry into specific instances of conduct of a witness for the purpose of attacking or supporting his credibility, to cross-examination of the witness concerning his character for truthfulness or untruthfulness. Here, the evidence of the defendant’s prior misconduct was admitted in the State’s case in chief without any attack having been made on the credibility of the victim, as required by M.R.Evid. 608(a)(2). See State v. Berry, 495 A.2d at 1210 (logical and just to admit evidence of defendant’s additional sexual *810advances as rebúttal testimony to rehabilitate the prosecutrix when defendant opened the door by attacking her credibility).
By not addressing the trial court’s improper instruction, the court impliedly finds that the clear violation of Rule 608 did not affect the jury’s verdict. I disagree. We have stated that such a limiting instruction as the trial court attempted to give here serves an important function in minimizing the prejudice to the defendant from the admission of evidence of prior misconduct. See State v. Wallace, 431 A.2d 613, 616 (Me.1981); State v. Heald, 393 A.2d 537, 543 (Me.1978); cf. State v. Goodrich, 432 A.2d 413, 417, 419 (Me.1981) (when evidence of prior unlawful sexual incidents improperly admitted, absence of immediate and strong admonitory instruction increased danger of unfair prejudice to defendant).
Here, the limiting instruction was given to the jury before any testimony was heard. Thus, even from the outset of the trial, the court unduly emphasized the testimony as it related to the credibility of the victim and the defendant. We recently held that such undue emphasis by the trial court impermissibly diminished the jury’s function of evaluating the credibility of the witnesses and thereby denied the defendant a fair trial. State v. Randall, 500 A.2d 267 (Me.1985). Moreover, when the limiting instruction itself has caused the prejudice, we cannot assume that the jury did not follow the entire instruction. We have said that “[i]n order for the jury system to function, it must be assumed that, absent unusual circumstances, a jury will follow a court’s instructions where the instructions are clear and the circumstances are such that the jury can reasonably be expected to follow them.” State v. Trafton, 425 A.2d 1320, 1324 (Me.1981).
We must, therefore, assume that the jury did improperly consider evidence of the defendant’s prior sexual acts in evaluating the credibility of both the defendant and the victim. After reviewing all the circumstances of this trial, it is apparent, as recognized by the trial court, that credibility of the parties was a vital issue to be determined by the jury. As the trial justice noted in his final charge to the jury, one of the most important functions of a jury is to evaluate the credibility of the witnesses. See State v. Crocker, 435 A.2d 58, 77 (Me.1981). This function is critical when, as here, the jury’s decision focused “almost exclusively” on the issue of credibility. Cf. State v. Terrio, 442 A.2d 537, 542 (Me.1982) (that error in admitting evidence of prior sex-related incidents was not harmless reinforced by court’s observation that credibility question was so close). Far from curing the error in the earlier instructions, the justice compounded it in his final charge by repeating that the jurors could consider the evidence of prior sexual acts as it related to the credibility of the parties. Because there exists a reasonable possibility that a proper limiting instruction would have resulted in a different verdict, manifest error must be found. State v. Bahre, 456 A.2d 860, 865 (Me.1983). “A verdict based upon a misconception of the law is against the law, and to allow it to stand is not justice.” State v. Michaud, 473 A.2d at 404, 405. I would accordingly vacate the judgment of conviction.