State v. Hunter

I must respectfully dissent. In delivering a fatal blow to the second branch of 17-A M.R.S.A. § 1255(2), the majority repeats the error of the Superior Court justice by violating the most basic principle of statutory construction and ignoring the unique characteristics of a protective sentence. Stated simply, the statute has been misinterpreted to create, rather than avoid, constitutional confrontation.

In numerous opinions, this Court has affirmed the obligation to construe and interpret a statute so as to sustain it rather than defeat it. As was stated most recently:

We start from the…