State v. Hebert

CARTER, Justice.

After a trial in Superior Court (Andros-coggin County), the jury found the defendant guilty of Gross Sexual Misconduct, 17-A M.R.S.A. § 253 (1982). Because we find that the justice’s refusal to comply with the jurors’ request to read back a portion of the testimony constitutes reversible error in the trial proceedings, we vacate the conviction.

The prosecutrix, the defendant’s nine-year-old daughter, offered testimony that suggested that her father had abused her sexually on at least two occasions. During her testimony, the prosecutrix used one male and one female anatomically…