State of Maine v. Terri L. Moulton

Summary

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court affirmed Terri L. Moulton’s convictions for theft by unauthorized taking or transfer and forgery. The court held that prosecutorial errors were harmless, the trial judge did not abuse his discretion in denying recusal, and the State did not violate its discovery obligations concerning QuickBooks access and financial records.

Holdings

1. The prosecutor's comments concerning Moulton's right to a trial, punishment, and trust and betrayal constituted error in whole or in part, but the errors were harmless because the evidence of guilt was overwhelming and the trial court gave curative jury instructions.
2. The prosecutor's unobjected-to references to trust and betrayal satisfied the error and plainness components of the obvious-error test, but did not affect Moulton's substantial rights or require reversal.
3. The prosecutorial errors, considered individually and cumulatively, did not deprive Moulton of due process or require reversal.
4. The trial judge did not abuse his discretion by denying recusal based on his prior employment with the district attorney's office and professional association with the prosecutor.
5. The State did not violate its obligation to produce information outside its possession or control, and the trial court did not abuse its discretion by denying exclusion of the financial evidence as a discovery sanction.

Questions Presented

1. Whether prosecutorial statements during opening statement, closing argument, and rebuttal argument constituted prosecutorial error requiring reversal under harmless-error or obvious-error review.
2. Whether the trial judge abused his discretion by denying Moulton's motion to recuse based on the judge's prior employment with the same district attorney's office as the prosecutor.
3. Whether the State violated its criminal discovery obligations by failing to provide the QuickBooks password and whether the trial court abused its discretion by denying exclusion of the financial evidence as a discovery sanction.

Disposition

affirmed