State v. Burton

The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the judgment of the trial court convicting Defendant of intentional or knowing murder and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, holding that the court did not err in the way it conducted voir dire and that the admission into evidence of two burglary convictions pursuant to Me. R. Evid. 609 was not an abuse of the court’s discretion.Specifically, the Court held that the trial court (1) did not abuse its discretion by not including in the juror vote dire questionnaire six of Defendant’s proposed juror questions and by not giving the prospective jurors the option of answering any of the questions with “not sure” as an alternative to “yes” or “no”; and (2) did not abuse its discretion by admitting evidence of two prior burglary convictions to impeach Defendant’s trial testimony. View "State v. Burton" on Justia Law