State v. Fahnley
Annotate this CaseAfter a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of the Class C charge of sexual abuse of a minor. On appeal, Defendant challenged the admission of testimony of the victim’s mother indicating when the victim told her what had happened and argued that the State committed prosecutorial misconduct in its closing arguments. The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed, holding (1) the trial court properly applied the “first complaint” rule in determining that the mother’s statement was admissible; and (2) any error in the prosecutor’s closing arguments, either individually or cumulatively, did not deprive Defendant of a fair trial.
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