State v. Ayers

I cannot agree with today’s majority when in such cavalier fashion it permits the former testimony of a witness, Donald Ayers, to be admitted into evidence against the Defendant, Barbara Thibodeau Ayers, in this, her second trial for murder.

The witness’s testimony at the earlier trial was nothing but hearsay at this trial. Its admission into evidence by the Superior Court was a violation of the Defendant’s right of confrontation guaranteed to her by Amendment VI (through Amendment XIV) of the United States Constitution.

In a very limited way our Maine Rules of Evidence (tracking the Federal…