State v. Mooney, 2012 ME 69

Mooney convicted of trafficking in prison contraband after an altercation at Maine State Prison on Nov. 11, 2010; Brine sustained lacerations requiring sutures; Mooney pulled Brine’s cell door and something was thrown from Mooney’s hand; a shank was later found in front of Brine’s cell and another adjacent cell but not in the incident report; Smith testified about observations not in her report; Brine did not cooperate with investigator Scheid, prompting testimony about what charges could have been pursued if he had cooperated; conviction and sentence were appealed with issues surrounding admission of testimony and relevance of Scheid’s testimony; conviction ultimately vacated due to reversible error.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Admission of Smith’s non-report observations	Mooney argues Rule 16(a) disclosure was violated	State contends observations weren’t within Rule 16(a) scope	Admission not error; no Rule 16 violation
Scheid’s testimony about charges if Brine cooperated	Scheid’s testimony was relevant to charges beyond trafficking	Testimony was irrelevant to trafficking charge	Erroneous; not harmless; conviction vacated

State v. Waterman, 2010 ME 45 (Me. 2010) (abuse of discretion standard for admitting evidence; Rule 16 disclosure aims to prevent prejudice)
State v. Foy, 662 A.2d 238 (Me. 1995) (continuing duty to disclose material exculpatory information under Rule 16; prejudice concerns)
State v. Sanborn, 644 A.2d 475 (Me. 1994) (failure to disclose may lead to exclusion of evidence)
Griffin v. State, 642 A.2d 1332 (Me. 1994) (non-disclosed observations not subject to automatic discovery if not within Rule 16(a))
State v. Dilley, 2008 ME 5 (Me. 2008) (relevance standard for evidence; inappropriate evidence must be excluded)
State v. Martin, 2007 ME 23 (Me. 2007) (example of relevance evaluation; charges not probative of charged conduct)
State v. Guyette, 2012 ME 9 (Me. 2012) (harmless error framework when preserved error; weighing evidence)
State v. Mangos, 2008 ME 150 (Me. 2008) (DNA-like powerful evidence; harms of improper evidence admission)
State v. White, 2002 ME 122 (Me. 2002) (harmless error consideration when inadmissible statement could not meaningfully influence verdict)
State v. Kirk, 2005 ME 60 (Me. 2005) (harmless error analysis factors)
State v. Long, 656 A.2d 1228 (Me. 1995) (personal knowledge requirement for witness)