State v. Williams

DUFRESNE, Active Retired Justice.

After a trial in Superior Court (Cumberland County), a jury convicted the defendant of violation of 17-A M.R.S.A. § 755 (1983), Escape. On appeal, the defendant argues that the presiding justice committed reversible error by excluding testimony relating to a previous Rule 11 proceeding in which the defendant pleaded guilty to prior charges of burglary and theft. Trial counsel’s apparent intention was to establish through the excluded testimony that, even though the defendant had pleaded guilty to the charge, he had expected his attorney to appeal the burglary…