State of Maine v. Nathan Lee

Summary

The Supreme Judicial Court of Maine affirmed Nathan Lee's convictions for domestic violence aggravated assault (Class B) and domestic violence criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon (Class C). The court held that two instances of prosecutorial error — the prosecutor's attempt to lay a foundation for a detective sergeant to opine on a witness's credibility, and his closing-argument statement that he thought the victim's mother was 'pretty honest' — were plain error, but neither affected Lee's substantial rights because the credibility question was never answered and the vouching statement concerned a witness who testified to none of the charged conduct. The court also held that the errors, individually and cumulatively, did not deprive Lee of a fair trial, while cautioning that on different facts such errors could require vacatur.