State v. Beaudoin
| Decision Date | 24 May 1978 |
| Citation | 386 A.2d 731 |
| Parties | STATE of Maine v. Andre E. BEAUDOIN. |
| Court | Maine Supreme Court |
David M. Cox, Dist. Atty., Gary F. Thorne (orally), R. Christopher Almy, Asst. Dist. Attys., Bangor, for plaintiff.
Paine & Lynch, Andrew M. Mead (orally), Bangor, for defendant.
Before McKUSICK, C. J., and POMEROY, WERNICK, ARCHIBALD, DELAHANTY, GODFREY and NICHOLS, JJ.
On September 6, 1977 defendant Andre E. Beaudoin was indicted in the Superior Court (Penobscot County) for the offense of armed robbery, in violation of 17-A M.R.S.A. § 651. Thereafter, at his trial before a jury on October 24, 1977, defendant was found guilty as charged. Defendant has appealed from the entry of the judgment of conviction.
We deny the appeal.
As his first point of appeal, defendant contends that the presiding Justice erred at trial by welcoming a high school class in the presence of the jury and by permitting the class to attend defendant's trial.
The record reveals that immediately after the jury was sworn and after the indictment was read to the jury, the presiding Justice commented in the presence of the jury:
"Before we proceed with this case, I just want to take this opportunity of welcoming the class I think from Millinocket High School."
A spectator then informed the Court that the class was from East Millinocket and the Justice then continued:
Thereafter, at a bench conference, defendant objected to the presence of the class in the courtroom. No subsequent reference was made to the class, and the record gives no indication that the presence of the class caused any other interruption of the trial.
Defendant contends that defendant's conviction should be reversed because the presence of the class at the trial and the welcoming remarks of the presiding Justice may have prejudiced the jury.
We find no basis for reversal.
Absent a showing of actual prejudice, the constitutional guaranty of due process of law would be violated by the public's presence at a trial only if the surrounding circumstances be so extreme in nature and extent as to create a substantial and inherent probability that the trial cannot be fairly conducted. Cf. Sheppard v. Maxwell, 384 U.S. 333, 86 S.Ct. 1507, 16 L.Ed.2d 600 (1966); Estes v. Texas, 381 U.S. 532, 85 S.Ct. 1628, 14 L.Ed.2d 543 (1965). Ordinarily, that the public is present at a trial creates neither the danger nor the actuality of unfairness to defendant but rather tends to protect against it. See Levine v. United States, 362 U.S. 610, 80 S.Ct. 1083, 4 L.Ed.2d 989 (1960); In re Oliver, 333 U.S. 257, 68 S.Ct. 499, 92 L.Ed. 682 (1948). We find nothing in the circumstances of this case to indicate that the presence of the high school class or the welcoming remarks by the presiding Justice had serious potential to, or actually did, adversely affect the conduct of the trial or its result.
As a matter of our own state law, we have previously indicated that:
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