AUBURN – The state’s high court rejected a bid by Lewiston Mayor Lionel C. Guay to keep to himself evidence he might use at trial on sexual touching and assault charges.
Leigh Saufley, chief justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, wrote that his appeal of a lower court judge’s ruling was “premature.”
Guay, through his lawyer Jennifer Nichols Ferguson, had asked for a protection order to keep from having to share evidence with prosecutors that might be used to question the credibility of the state’s witness.
In April, Androscoggin County Superior Court Justice Thomas Delahanty II turned down Guay’s request, saying he is legally bound to produce, on request, any materials the “defendant intends to offer into evidence at any proceeding.”
At the same time, he told Assistant Attorney General Leanne Robbin she doesn’t need a court order compelling the defense to share evidence. He said Ferguson would have “reasonable time” before the case went to trial to turn over that evidence or face sanctions.
Prosecutors said they want to see, among other materials, time cards they think Ferguson plans to use to impeach a witness for the state who lodged the complaints against Guay last year.
If Ferguson doesn’t share her evidence by the time a trial is scheduled, Robbin said she may ask the court to order her to do so or else block her from being able to use the evidence at trial.
Guay was charged in November with three counts of sexual touching and one count of assault. The alleged victim was a high school student at the time.
A trial could be scheduled for this fall.
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