ANGELA ANN GRIMM v. STATE OF MARYLAND
Court of Appeals, Greene, Filed May 4, 2016,
Testimony – Antithesis Inference – Discredited non-party testimony “is assigned no weight” and can not be used “in the consideration of the ultimate issue.” (Belief that a non-party witness is lying can not independently support the argument that the opposite is true)

(Dissent – Watts – Witness testimony that they could not remember whether or not they had sex with their step-mother was sufficiently preposterous to support the defendant’s confession)

The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence

Sufficiency of Evidence – A criminal conviction can not rest solely on an uncorroborated confession

Scienter exception – There is an exception to the Antithesis Inference, which is:
– The defendant testifies in an improbable manner, making it permissible to find scienter based on denial of scienter
– AND there is some additional circumstance/evidence establishing the inherent improbability of the denial

Scienter exception – Depends on whether the witness is a party or non-party, not on their neutrality