State v. Brewer
Maine Supreme Judicial Court
505 A.2d 774 (1985)

- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
A truck owned by Andrew Pratt was involved in an accident. After the accident, law enforcement found Ricky Brewer (defendant) intoxicated at the nearby home of Virginia Curtis, who had reported the accident. The State of Maine (plaintiff) charged Brewer with operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol. Brewer admitted to being intoxicated but stated that he had been drinking with Pratt at a bar and that Pratt was driving the truck when it crashed. Brewer stated that he had fallen asleep in the truck and had not woken up until after the accident, at which point he walked to Curtis’s home. Neither the prosecution nor Brewer called Pratt as a witness. Because Pratt could have exonerated Brewer if he testified that he was driving the truck, the trial court permitted an adverse inference against Brewer based on him not calling Pratt as a witness. Brewer was convicted, and the superior court affirmed. Brewer appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Glassman, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 815,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.