Maine Supreme Judicial Court upholds St. Albans man's child sexual assault conviction
Jul. 22—The Maine Supreme Judicial Court on Thursday upheld the conviction of a St. Albans man found guilty of sexually assaulting an 11-year-old.
In December 2022, a jury found Corey W. Farley, now 33, guilty of Class A gross sexual assault and Class B unlawful sexual contact after a two-day trial in Skowhegan. He was later sentenced to 23 years in prison for the first count, and 10 years concurrent with that sentence for the second count.
Farley committed the crimes in 2020 in St. Albans, according to his indictment.
Farley appealed the conviction to Maine's highest court, and the seven-member panel of justices heard arguments in September.
Through his lawyers Stephen C. Smith and Carl E. Woock of Steve Smith Trial Lawyers in Augusta, Farley argued the Superior Court should not have allowed a recorded interview with a detective to be admitted as evidence during the trial, over which Justice Robert E. Mullen presided.
A Somerset County Sheriff's Office detective interviewed Farley on Aug. 20, 2021, after police received a complaint. During the interview, Farley admitted to sexually assaulting the victim, according to court records. He was arrested days later.
Before Farley went on trial, the court rejected his motion to suppress the interview as evidence, finding that Farley was not in custody and his statements were made voluntarily. The Supreme Judicial Court agreed with that decision.
In his appeal, Farley also objected to how the trial judge handled several aspects of the prosecutor's closing argument.
The prosecutor said there was no evidence to corroborate Farley's claims that he has issues with hearing and anxiety, which were presented during the trial, according to the high court's decision. Farley and his aunt testified he has been diagnosed with hearing issues.
Since the prosecutor corrected the error and the judge provided sufficient instructions that jurors rely on their own recollection of evidence, the high court did not find that errors were made in the prosecutor's argument.
Farley also contended the prosecutor mischaracterized a text message sent by the victim to Farley as having a sexual connotation. The high court found that the prosecutor inferred reasonably from testimony during the trial that the message, containing emojis, had a sexual connotation.
Farley also argued in his appeal that "the prosecutor improperly commented regarding the victim's truthfulness and Farley's dishonesty," according to the Supreme Judicial Court's decision.
The high court ultimately disagreed, although the state admitted that an aspect of the prosecutor's statement might have been in error.
Farley is now serving his sentence at the Maine State Prison in Warren, according to state Department of Corrections records.
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