State of Maine v. Spencer T. Glover, 2014 ME 49

Victim reported being sexually assaulted by longtime friend Spencer Glover after waking during the night; she later sought medical exam and reported the assault to police.
Deputy Noyes recorded a call in which Glover denied the assault and later asked Glover to provide a voluntary DNA cheek swab; Glover refused and Noyes obtained a warrant to collect DNA.
DNA testing matched sperm recovered from the victim to Glover; probability of a different source was extremely remote.
At trial Glover testified he had consensual sex, admitted lying earlier, and explained his refusal to give DNA was due to fear after being accused and threatened.
The State elicited and argued Glover’s pre-arrest refusal to provide DNA as consciousness of guilt; the jury convicted Glover of gross sexual assault and he appealed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Admissibility of defendant’s refusal to voluntarily submit to warrantless DNA collection	Refusal is probative of consciousness of guilt and admissible evidence	Refusal is assertion of a Fourth Amendment right; its probative value is minimal and its admission unfairly prejudicial	Court held admission was plain error: refusal is a constitutional exercise with minimal probative value and is generally inadmissible under M.R. Evid. 403 when used to infer guilt
Standard of review for unpreserved evidentiary error	N/A — State contended evidence was properly admitted	Glover argued obvious error review applies to admission of refusal evidence	Court applied obvious-error review and found all prongs met (error, plain, affecting substantial rights, undermining fairness)
Whether admission of refusal was harmless given DNA match and other evidence	State implied overwhelming DNA evidence made any error harmless	Glover argued admission likely affected jury credibility assessment of his testimony	Court concluded reasonable probability that admission affected outcome because State’s case depended on discrediting Glover and refusal was emphasized throughout trial
Whether other alleged errors (victim’s medical statement, prosecutorial language) required relief	State defended trial rulings	Glover raised hearsay and prosecutorial misconduct claims	Court did not reach these claims because it vacated judgment based on admission of refusal evidence

Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.S. 218 (voluntariness of consent and constitutional rights bear little probative weight for guilt)
United States v. Hale, 422 U.S. 171 (invocation of constitutional rights should not be treated as evidence of guilt)
Grunewald v. United States, 353 U.S. 391 (penalizing assertion of constitutional privileges undermines their value)
State v. Vrooman, 71 A.3d 723 (framing of facts in criminal appeals)
State v. Melvin, 955 A.2d 245 (warrantless searches are presumptively unreasonable; DNA cheek swabs are searches)
State v. Pabon, 28 A.3d 1147 (obvious-error standard and its prongs)
State v. Woodard, 68 A.3d 1250 (standard for demonstrating reasonable probability that error affected outcome)