State v. Pineau

NICHOLS, Justice.

The determinative issue in this case focuses upon the limits of rebuttal argument to the jury permitted a prosecutor.

The Defendant, John Pineau, was convicted of operating under the influence of intoxicating liquor, 29 M.R.S.A. § 1312-B, following a jury trial in Superior Court, Penobscot County. Challenging his conviction, he raises four issues on appeal. We consider only one of those issues, and we sustain his appeal.

At the very end of his rebuttal the prosecutor proposed to the jury the following hypothesis:

Let’s just for a moment suggest to you this, let’s say that there…