State of Maine v. Jason M. Lovejoy

[¶ 1] In this appeal, we consider whether a person’s pre-arrest silence may be offered as evidence of consciousness of guilt in a criminal prosecution without offending the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution and article I, section 6 of the Maine Constitution. We also consider allegations of prosecutorial misconduct. Because we conclude that a defendant’s silence following the explicit assertion of the right to consult with counsel cannot be used as evidence of consciousness of guilt and because the prosecutor improperly opined on witness credibility, we vacate the judgments of…