Defendant Martin Comer appeals from a judgment entered in the Superior Court (Pe-nobscot County, Kravchuk, J.) following a jury verdict finding him guilty of five counts of gross sexual misconduct and five counts of unlawful sexual contact. 17-A M.R.S.A. §§ 253, 255 (Supp.1993). Defendant contends that the State was guilty of misconduct during closing argument. We hold that the prosecutor’s remarks concerning witness credibility do not constitute obvious error, and we affirm the judgment.
The evidence presented at trial may be summarized as follows: In 1986 defendant began dating the victim’s mother and became a father-figure to the then seven-year-old victim. Thereafter the victim and his mother moved to New Hamрshire to live with defendant. When he was eight, the victim told police officers that defendant had sexually abused him, but later recanted the allegations. The viсtim and his mother moved to Texas and then returned to Maine in 1988 to again live with defendant.
In 1989, the victim appeared at two civil hearings in New Hampshire and testifiеd under oath that defendant had not abused him. In May of 1990, after receiving coun-selling and viewing a film describing sexual abuse that encouraged children to repоrt it, the victim immediately reported that he had been sexually abused by defendant. He testified at trial that, during 1988 and 1989, defendant had performed oral and anal sеx on him and had masturbated him on numerous occasions. He explained that he earlier had denied the abuse because, until he viewed the film, he did not understand that the sexual acts were wrong. He testified that the defendant, whom he considered a father-figure, had told him that everyone did those acts.
Defendant did nоt testify at trial. During final argument, the State commented on the veracity of the victim,
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and defense counsel
Defendant argues that the State’s closing argument was improper because the prosecutor commented on witness credibility. Becausе he failed to object at trial, we review for obvious error. Obvious error is error so highly prejudicial that it taints the proceedings and virtually deprives defendant of a fair trial.
State v. True,
We have found prosecutors’ statеments of personal opinion particularly troubling when the comments concern a defendant’s credibility and the case is a close one.
See, e.g., id.
at 19;
State v. Tripp,
Tripp,
the only case thus far to involve obvious error, also presented a close case that turned on whether the jury believed the victim or the defendant. The victim testified to instances of sexual abuse by his father, the defendant. Defendant, in turn, testified that the victim’s testimony was not true. During cross-examination, the State repeatedly and pointedly asked defendant whether the victim had lied.
Tripp,
In the present case, the State did not ask any improper questions concerning witness credibility, and defendant was not compelled to accuse the victim of being a liar. Furthermore, defendant did not testify, аnd the prosecutor’s closing remarks did not assert that defendant had lied. Rather, the prosecutor began by suggesting, quite properly, that the jury could infer “from the evidence” that the victim’s previous testimony in New Hampshire was the product of the defendant’s coercion and was false. As the argument progressed, the phrase “from the evidence” was dropped, and the prosecutor came perilously close to replicating the offending argument in Tripp. Wе cannot say that this is not error, but reading the entire argument as a whole, it is reasonable to assume that the jury was not induced to focus on anything other than thе evidence. In short, we do not find that the ill-chosen words in question deprived defendant of a fair trial.
Defendant’s other contentions are without merit.
The entry is:
Judgment affirmed.
All concurring.
Notes
. During its closing argument, the State argued that:
Now, ladies and gentlemen, in the course of this case, some awful things had happened, we suggest that you can find from the evidence, but there's also a very sinister aspect to this case we suggest the evidencе shows. We talked to you about how Mr. Comer, we suggest the evidence entitles you to conclude, was not only a smart man but a manipulative one, a deviоus person.
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[W]hen you get into that jury room you can say, look, we know [the victim] told us thetruth, that’s what we — that's what the State of Maine is suggesting to you, we’re suggesting to you thаt Matthew told you the truth.
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Now, the defendant’s going to place — and did in his opening statement — place a lot of evidence on this so-called testimony under oath. Well, you take it for what it really is. You take it for what it really means. And remember one thing, that the real testimony that counts in this case is what [the victim] said on Mоnday and Tuesday morning right here in this courtroom in front of you folks. And we suggest to you that’s the truth. That’s what happened, secretly, between him and this man over here.
Thank you.
In rebuttal, the State argued that:
There’s no reason now for [the victim] to come in here and He. He came in here to tell you the truth. There is no motivation at all here for him to lie. He doеsn’t get anything by coming into a courtroom, talking about these things to you. We suggest you can conclude that.
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Folks, our mission in this courtroom is to seek the truth. We each have a role to play. [The victim’s mother] had a role in her life to play as a mother.... [H]er role as a mother stopped when she walked in this cоurtroom. She had a role to play in this case, and that was to tell you the truth. Your role is to seek the truth. Her role was to tell you the truth. [The victim’s] role was to tell the truth. We suggest your role is to seek the truth. And, we would suggest to you, ladies and gentlemen, that if Mr. Comer had been that great dad, that great father who had done all of these great things for [the victim] and had never done anything wrong, we would not be here today. Where is the truth? Why are we here? We are here because [the victim] is giving you what you are seeking, and that is the truth. Thank you.