Court Opinion

ID: 9760866
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 01:20:36.785321+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:18.153589
License: Public Domain

WATHEN, Justice,
with whom McKU-SICK, Chief Justice, joins, dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. I agree that the remarks of the prosecutor were improper and that the court erred in declining to give a curative instruction. I would conclude, however, that the error was harmless.
It does not appear that the prosecutor was aware of the impropriety of the statements at the time they were made. Further, those offending remarks were effectively negated by the court’s affirmative statement of the proper principles of law which were to control the jury determination. Finally, the record contains overwhelming evidence of defendant’s guilt. Under these circumstances, I find it to be highly probable that the jury’s determination of defendant’s guilt was unaffected by the improper remarks of the prosecutor. See State v. Smith, 456 A.2d 16, 19 (Me.1983); State v. Reilly, 446 A.2d 1125 (Me.1982); State v. True, 438 A.2d 460, 467 (Me.1981).