Supreme Judicial Court of Maine
State of Maine v. William Forbes
May 6, 19821982 Me. LEXIS 671
Summary
The court affirmed the defendant’s robbery conviction, holding that the shotgun was properly authenticated as the weapon seized from beneath the bed where the defendant was arrested. It further held that the shotgun was relevant to identifying the defendant and that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in finding that its probative value was not substantially outweighed by unfair prejudice. No separate opinions were filed.
Holding
- Authentication of the shotgun. The shotgun was properly authenticated because the State claimed it was the gun recovered by Officer Demakis from beneath the bed at the time of the defendant’s arrest, and Demakis identified the exhibit as that gun.
- Relevance of the shotgun. The shotgun was relevant to the identification of the defendant because the jury could rationally find from its characteristics, its discovery near the defendant, and the defendant’s proximity to the robbery that it was the weapon used in the crime and that its availability to the defendant made it more likely that he committed the robbery.
- Unfair prejudice under M.R.Evid. 403. The trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting the shotgun because its probative value on the disputed identification issue was not substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice.