Title 15, Title 15

A clerk of court, in default of payment to the clerk of fines, forfeitures and bills of costs, shall issue warrants of distress, or such other process therefor as the court finds necessary to enforce the execution of any order, sentence or judgment on behalf of the State, deliver…

Every clerk of a Superior Court shall render under oath a detailed account of all fines, costs and forfeitures upon convictions and sentences before the court and shall pay them into the State Treasury on or before the 15th day of the month following the collection of such fines,…

Sheriffs, jailers and constables who by virtue of their office receive any fines or forfeitures shall forthwith pay the fines and forfeitures to the Treasurer of State. [RR 2023, c. 2, Pt. D, §73 (COR).] If any such officer neglects to pay over the fine or forfeiture for 30 days …

Every sheriff or other officer to whom any process for the recovery of such fine, forfeiture or costs is committed by the clerk of courts shall, at the next session of the court in the same county, produce a receipt in full for the same or assign a satisfactory excuse for not so …

A sheriff, as often as every 3 months, shall deliver to the Treasurer of State all securities taken by the sheriff for fines and costs, on the liberation of poor convicts from prison pursuant to law. [RR 2023, c. 2, Pt. D, §74 (COR).] All such securities taken for fines imposed b…

Sums allowed to any person as fees or for expenses in any criminal prosecution and payable from the State Treasury may be claimed by such person of the Treasurer of State at any time within 3 years after the allowance, and not afterwards.

A schedule of all securities with the amount due on each, received by the Treasurer of State from the sheriff pursuant to section 1983, must be filed by the sheriff with the clerk. The clerk, from time to time, shall examine the securities and, when the clerk determines it approp…

District attorneys shall examine the records and files in the offices of clerks and the certificates and accounts in the offices of treasurers, relating to fines, forfeitures and bills of costs accruing to their counties; ascertain, so far as practicable, the cause of any delinqu…

When it appears that a sheriff or other officer is not discharged of any fine, forfeiture or bill of costs committed to the sheriff or other officer to collect, the district attorney shall cause the sheriff or other officer to be summoned and brought before the court that imposed…

1. Appeal of judgment of conviction or order to the Law Court. Except as otherwise specifically provided, in any criminal proceeding in the District Court, a defendant aggrieved by a judgment of conviction, ruling or order may appeal to the Supreme Judicial Court sitting as the L…

In all Class D and E criminal proceedings, the defendant may waive the defendant's right to jury trial and elect to be tried in the District Court, as provided by rule of the Supreme Judicial Court.

In any criminal proceeding in the Superior Court, any defendant aggrieved by a judgment of conviction, ruling or order may appeal to the Supreme Judicial Court sitting as the Law Court. The Supreme Judicial Court shall provide by rule the time for taking the appeal and the manner…

1. Appeals prior to trial. An appeal may be taken by the State in criminal cases on questions of law from the District Court and from the Superior Court to the Supreme Judicial Court sitting as the Law Court: From an order of the court prior to trial which suppresses any evidence…

1. Summary contempt proceedings involving punitive sanctions. In a summary contempt proceeding involving punitive sanctions, accompanied or unaccompanied by remedial sanctions, instituted under the Maine Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 66, before a Judge of the District Court or P…

Whenever a federal court finds that a prisoner in any penal institution in this State has been deprived of any of the rights guaranteed to the prisoner by the United States Constitution before, at or after the prisoner's trial, so that the judgment or sentence or both are erroneo…

For all purposes for which an exception has heretofore been necessary in criminal cases, it is sufficient that a party, at the time the ruling or order of the court is made or sought, makes known to the court the action that the party desires the court to take or the party's obje…

As used in this chapter, the following terms have the following meanings. [PL 1979, c. 701, §15 (NEW).] 1. Criminal judgment. "Criminal judgment" means a judgment of conviction of a crime, the orders of adjudication and disposition in a juvenile case and a judgment of not crimina…

This chapter provides a comprehensive and, except for direct appeals from a criminal judgment, exclusive method of review of those criminal judgments and of post-sentencing proceedings occurring during the course of sentences. It is a remedy for illegal restraint and other impedi…

1. Jurisdiction. Jurisdiction shall be in the Superior Court. 1-A. Supreme Court Justice or authorized Judge of the District Court. A single Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court, an Active Retired Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court or a judge authorized to sit in the Superior…

Remedial relief from administrative actions occurring during the course of and pursuant to the operation of a sentence that affects whether there is incarceration or its length that are not included in the definition of "post-sentencing proceeding" in section 2121, subsection 2 i…

An action for post-conviction review of a criminal judgment of this State or of a post-sentencing proceeding following the criminal judgment may be brought if the person seeking relief demonstrates that the challenged criminal judgment or post-sentencing proceeding is causing a p…

A person who satisfies the prerequisites of section 2124 may show that the challenged criminal judgment or sentence is unlawful or unlawfully imposed, or that the impediment resulting from the challenged post-sentencing proceeding is unlawful, as a result of any error or ground f…

A person under restraint or impediment specified in section 2124 must also demonstrate that the person has previously exhausted remedies incidental to proceedings in the trial court, on appeal or administrative remedies. A person who has taken an appeal from a judgment of convict…

A person under restraint or impediment specified in section 2124 shall demonstrate that any ground of relief has not been waived. The bases of waiver are as follows. [PL 2011, c. 601, §9 (AMD).] 1. Errors claimable on direct appeal. Errors at the trial that have been or could hav…

The assertion of a right under the Constitution of the United States may not be held waived by its nonassertion at trial or on appeal if the assertion of the right would be held not waived in a federal habeas corpus proceeding brought by the convicted or adjudicated person pursua…

The following filing deadlines apply. [PL 2011, c. 601, §11 (NEW).] 1. Filing deadline for direct impediment. A one-year period of limitation applies to initiating a petition for post-conviction review seeking relief from a criminal judgment under section 2124, subsection 1 or 1‑…

1. Filing of petition. Petitions shall be filed as follows. A. A proceeding for post-conviction review shall be commenced by filing a petition in the Superior Court in the county specified in section 2123. [PL 1981, c. 238, §5 (NEW).] B. If the petitioner desires to have counsel …

If the court determines that relief should be granted, it shall order appropriate relief, including: Release from incarceration or other restraint; reversal of the criminal judgment, including one entered upon a plea of guilty or nolo contendere; entry of judgment for a lesser in…

A final judgment entered under section 2130 may be reviewed by the Supreme Judicial Court sitting as the Law Court. [PL 2003, c. 17, §4 (RPR).] 1. Appeal by petitioner. A petitioner aggrieved by the final judgment may not appeal as of right. The time for taking the appeal and the…

Both the substantive and procedural provisions of this chapter shall apply to any action for post-conviction review commenced after the effective date of this chapter. In the case of any action under former Title 14, sections 5502 to 5508 or any other action for collateral review…

As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise indicates, the following terms have the following meanings. [PL 2001, c. 469, §1 (NEW).] 1. CODIS. "CODIS" means the Federal Bureau of Investigation's national DNA identification index system that allows for storage and exchan…

1. Motion. A person who has been convicted of and sentenced for a crime under the laws of this State that carries the potential punishment of imprisonment of at least one year and for which the person is in actual execution of either a pre-Maine Criminal Code sentence of imprison…

1. Filing motion. A person authorized in section 2137 who chooses to move for DNA analysis shall file the motion in the underlying criminal proceeding. The motion must be assigned to the trial judge or justice who imposed the sentence unless that judge or justice is unavailable, …

In cases arising in the District Court or the Superior Court in which a defendant has been convicted of a criminal offense and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of one year or more, the defendant may apply to the Supreme Judicial Court, sitting as the Law Court, for review of t…

There shall be a Sentence Review Panel of the Supreme Judicial Court to consider applications for leave to appeal from sentence, and no appeal of the sentence may proceed before the Supreme Judicial Court unless leave to appeal is first granted by the panel. The Sentence Review P…

The time for filing an application for leave to appeal and the manner and any conditions for the taking of the appeal shall be as the Supreme Judicial Court shall by rule provide.

The general objectives of sentence review by the Supreme Judicial Court are: [PL 1989, c. 218, §5 (NEW).] 1. Sentence correction. To provide for the correction of sentences imposed without due regard for the sentencing factors set forth in this chapter; 2. Promote respect for law…

In reviewing a criminal sentence, the Supreme Judicial Court shall consider: [PL 1991, c. 525, §2 (AMD).] 1. Propriety of sentence. The propriety of the sentence, having regard to the nature of the offense, the character of the offender, the protection of the public interest, the…

1. Substitution of sentence or remand. 1-A. Remand. If the Supreme Judicial Court determines that relief should be granted, it must remand the case to the court that imposed the sentence for any further proceedings that could have been conducted prior to the imposition of the sen…

1. Execution of sentence not stayed. An appeal under this chapter shall not stay the execution of a sentence. 2. Bail unavailable. Bail has no application to an appeal under this chapter.

On all petitions to the Governor for pardon or commutation of sentences, written notice thereof must be given to the Attorney General and the district attorney for the county where the case was tried at least 4 weeks before the time of the hearing thereon, and 4 weeks' notice in …

When a person is sentenced and committed to the custody of the Department of Corrections, the Governor may, if the Governor considers it consistent with the public interest and the welfare of the prisoner, commute that prisoner's sentence to imprisonment in any county jail, there…

In any case in which the Governor is authorized by the Constitution to grant a pardon, the Governor may, upon petition of the person convicted, grant it upon such conditions and with such restrictions and under such limitations as the Governor considers proper, and the Governor m…

When a convict has been pardoned on conditions to be observed and performed by the convict, and the warden of the State Prison or keeper of the jail where the convict was confined has reason to believe that the convict has violated those conditions, such officer shall forthwith c…

The Governor shall, upon receiving the notice provided for in section 2164, examine the case of the convict and, if it appears by the convict's own admission or by evidence that the convict has violated the conditions of the convict's pardon, the Governor shall order the convict …

When a convict is pardoned or the convict's punishment is commuted, the officer to whom the warrant for that purpose is issued shall, as soon as may be after executing the warrant, make return thereof, under the officer's hand, with the officer's doings thereon, to the office of …