State v. Reid, 161 N.H. 569

Defendant Reid was convicted by jury of two counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault and two counts of felonious sexual assault stemming from abuse of E.B. while living with her grandmother in 2003.
E.B. described acts of vaginal penetration and contact with defendant in the house with pool facilities; she provided a videotaped interview on May 6, 2004.
During trial (January 2009), the State admitted a redacted videotaped interview under the recorded recollection exception to preserve the witness’s memory for vaginal penetration charges.
The trial court found the third and fourth prongs of the recorded recollection test met and allowed the editor videotape.
Defense challenged confrontation rights and argued the trial court abuses; defendant also moved for mistrial based on implied references to silence.
Court affirms the conviction on all issues.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Admissibility of videotaped interview under recorded recollection	Reid	Reid	Court properly admitted the recording.
Confrontation rights and the witness’s memory	Legere controls; memory loss does not bar cross-examination	Admission violated Sixth Amendment	No confrontation violation; Legere applied.
Mistrial request for reference to silence/prosecutorial misconduct	State acted within bounds; no prejudice	Silence reference tainted trial; prosecutorial overreach	No mistrial; curative instruction sufficient; no misconduct.
State vs. Federal constitutional protections parity	State Constitution provides protections	Federal standard should govern	State Constitution in step with federal protection; affirm.

State v. Locke, 139 N.H. 741 (1995) (recorded recollection prerequisites; third and fourth prongs)
United States v. Porter, 986 F.2d 1014 (6th Cir. 1993) (trustworthiness factors for recorded recollection evidence)
Pickett v. United States, 822 A.2d 404 (D.C.2003) (consider demeanor and conditions in evaluating accuracy)
State v. Legere, 157 N.H. 746 (2008) (confrontation rights with unaffirmed memory witnesses)
State v. Ball, 124 N.H. 226 (1983) (mistrial standards and protections in state constitution context)
State v. Turgeon, 137 N.H. 544 (1993) (prosecutorial misconduct standard and remedy)
State v. Spaulding, 147 N.H. 583 (2002) (reference to silence generally not prejudicial)
State v. Gibson, 153 N.H. 454 (2006) (review of mistrial discretion on prejudice)
State v. Remick, 149 N.H. 745 (2003) (pre-arrest silence and impeachment limitations)