PORTLAND, Maine — The Maine Supreme Judicial Court will begin its annual road trip to high schools this week and end it after the potato harvest in Aroostook County has concluded.
Justices will convene Wednesday at Mattanawcook Academy in Lincoln and Thursday at Yarmouth High School. The court is set to hear oral arguments on Oct. 28 at Presque Isle High School.
Three appeals will be considered at each school. Many of the criminal cases this year focus on drunken driving charges and other driving infractions, which will be argued in Lincoln and Presque Isle. Two of the three civil cases, which all will be heard in Yarmouth, are lawsuits over vehicular accidents.
In Lincoln, the justices will hear the appeal of a father and son convicted of perjury in a May trial in Bangor.
Jeffrey P. Wyman, 59, was found guilty in May of four counts of perjury at the end of a three-day jury trial, R. Christopher Almy, who prosecuted the case, said last year. In the same trial, David M. Wyman, 27, was found guilty on three counts of perjury and not guilty on one count of perjury.
The jury found that both men lied under oath at the elder Wyman’s drunken driving trial in January 2012, in which he was found not guilty. The father was sentenced to four months in jail and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine. The son was sentenced to five days in jail and fined $500.
Attorneys for both men claimed in their appeals that evidence was improperly admitted at their perjury trial and that there was not enough evidence to support their convictions.
In Presque Isle, the justices will hear the appeal of Michael O. Fox, 34, of Sanford, who is serving a nine-year sentence for aggravated trafficking in methamphetamine. Fox’s attorney argued in his appeal that the state’s evidence was insufficient to support a conviction because there was no proof that he possessed all of the ingredients necessary to manufacture methamphetamine.
The state Supreme Court has convened in high schools in October since 2005. Since then, justices have visited 26 schools and heard over 80 appellate cases, according to Mary Ann Lynch, spokeswoman for the courts.
Briefs in the cases to be heard at high schools have been posted on the court’s website. Live audio streaming of arguments also will be available on the website.