State v. Edwards

NICHOLS, Justice.

This appeal requires us to consider the complementary, yet distinct, functions of judge and jury in the context of a criminal jury trial.

On July 14, 1982, the Defendant, Ivan Edwards, was convicted of one count of harassment, 17-A M.R.S.A. § 506-A, 1 following a jury trial in Superior Court (Franklin County). Challenging that conviction, the Defendant raises four points on appeal. We need consider only two of them.

During the course of his jury instructions at the close of trial, the presiding justice submitted to the jury a typewritten “chronology” he had prepared which…