31 results for 'cat:"Murder" AND cat:"Witnesses"'.
J. Cavanagh finds that the lower court properly convicted defendant of murder for personally discharging a firearm that killed a woman and severely injured a man. The court reasonably allowed two detectives to offer lay opinion testimony identifying defendant was the shooter from the surveillance video. While there is no evidence showing the perpetrator disguised himself, defendant wore a Covid mask during some portions of the trial, and he may have changed his hairstyle from the style worn in the video. Further, the detectives had in-person contact with defendant in weeks prior to the shooting that made it more likely for them to clearly identify him as the person shown in the surveillance footage. Affirmed.
Court: Illinois Appellate Court, Judge: Cavanagh, Filed On: May 16, 2024, Case #: 230501, Categories: Evidence, murder, witnesses
J. Moore affirms the defendant's second-degree murder conviction, finding that while the district court abused its discretion in admitting evidence that a witness received threatening phone calls from an unknown caller, the defendant has not demonstrated that there was a reasonable possibility that this evidence significantly impacted the verdict. Affirmed.
Court: Minnesota Supreme Court, Judge: Moore, Filed On: May 8, 2024, Case #: A22-0316, Categories: Evidence, murder, witnesses
J. Thissen reverses the Court of Appeals' reversal of the defendant's second-degree murder conviction, which was premised on a finding that potential exposure to Covid-19 did not make a witness unavailable for Confrontation Clause purposes and that allowing that witness's prior testimony to be read aloud for the jury without cross-examination was erroneous. While the Court of Appeals was correct as to that issue, the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Reversed.
Court: Minnesota Supreme Court, Judge: Thissen, Filed On: May 8, 2024, Case #: A21-1101, Categories: Confrontation, murder, witnesses
J. Barrett finds the trial court properly convicted defendant for murder. After receiving an anonymous tip, officers discovered the victim's decomposing body inside a vacant building. Witness' interviews implicated defendant and an accomplice. The accomplice agreed to testify in exchange for a plea agreement, saying defendant told him he was going to kill the victim for being a snitch. Multiple witnesses saw defendant with a handgun on the day of the murder, saying he was seeking ammunition, while the accomplice said defendant shot the victim in the chest and twice in the face. The accomplice's testimony was sufficiently corroborated. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Barrett , Filed On: April 10, 2024, Case #: CR-23-661, Categories: Evidence, murder, witnesses
J. Dowd finds that the lower court properly convicted defendant of murder and armed criminal action, and sentenced him to 26 years in prison. The court did not abuse its discretion in allowing the late endorsement of witnesses who examined DNA evidence at the crime scene. Defendant did not object to their testimony or even cross-examine them. Affirmed.
Court: Missouri Court Of Appeals, Judge: Dowd, Filed On: April 2, 2024, Case #: ED111454, Categories: Criminal Procedure, murder, witnesses
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J. Lynch finds that the district court properly denied defendant habeas relief from his murder conviction after an eyewitness recanted testimony and two new alibi witnesses came forward. Details of the 30-year-old case are "troubling" and the conviction was "weakly supported," but deference should be given to state's denial of post-conviction vacatur and the inmate's claim of actual innocence was insufficient. Affirmed.
Court: 2nd Circuit, Judge: Lynch, Filed On: March 12, 2024, Case #: 21-2582-pr, Categories: Habeas, murder, witnesses
J. Papik finds the trial court properly convicted defendant for murder, firearm use and witness tampering. Ample evidence, including cell phone location date, eyewitness accounts and videos defendant uploaded to Snapchat wherein he admitted to shooting his ex-girlfriend support the convictions. Though defendant says the court erroneously admitted expert testimony regarding the location data, overruling certain objections that defense counsel did not pursue and in declining to strike victim impact material, these arguments are without merit. Affirmed.
Court: Nebraska Supreme Court, Judge: Papik , Filed On: March 8, 2024, Case #: S-22-560, Categories: murder, witnesses, Experts
J. Williamowski finds defendant was not prejudiced at his trial on a murder charge when his attorney was unable to cross-examine a codefendant who pleaded guilty about the exact sentence he might have received without the plea. The codefendant was questioned about his motive for entering a plea, which properly informed the jury of the potential for false testimony, while the sentence he might have received at trial was undetermined. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Williamowski, Filed On: December 11, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-4472, Categories: murder, Plea, witnesses
J. Wendlandt vacates the defendant's convictions for first-degree murder, armed assault with intent to murder, and assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon after he allegedly killed a man in a drive-by shooting where he shot the man 11 times, and shot but did not kill the man's associate. There were no witnesses to the shooting who were able to identify defendant and the judge denied his request to conduct a voir dire examination of a witness who claimed to have seen him in a bluish-silver Nissan sedan near the crime scene 20-30 minutes before the shooting. Vacated.
Court: Massachusetts Supreme Court, Judge: Wendlandt, Filed On: November 16, 2023, Case #: SJC-12984, Categories: Evidence, murder, witnesses
J. Emfinger finds the lower court properly convicted defendant of conspiracy to commit murder and first-degree murder for his role in the shooting death of a man. Defendant received a 20-year sentence for the conspiracy conviction and life imprisonment for murder to run concurrently. Defendant argues the lower court erroneously allowed phone records and testimony of an officer explaining the use of those records in tracking the location of defendant’s cell phone, but the instant court finds no error in the lower court's handling of the matter. Affirmed.
Court: Mississippi Court Of Appeals, Judge: Emfinger, Filed On: October 31, 2023, Case #: 2022-KA-00709-COA, Categories: Evidence, murder, witnesses
J. Mundy finds that the lower court properly vacated defendant’s convictions for murder of the first degree, kidnapping and rape of a woman in 1990 and his resulting death sentence. The lower court failed to disclose psychological reports of a key witness against defendant in this case. Affirmed.
Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Judge: Mundy, Filed On: October 23, 2023, Case #: J-11-2023, Categories: murder, Sentencing, witnesses
J. Bates finds that the lower court properly convicted defendant of murder, robbery and tampering with a motor vehicle. The court did not err by excluding testimony in an offer of proof from a law enforcement witness or by declining to permit defense counsel to show a surveillance vide of the crime during voir dire. Affirmed.
Court: Missouri Court Of Appeals, Judge: Bates, Filed On: September 19, 2023, Case #: SD37522, Categories: Evidence, murder, witnesses
J. Colvin finds that the trial court properly convicted defendant of murder and other offenses upon retrial. The trial court did not commit any error in admitting into evidence testimony from a witness who testified at defendant's first trial but who died and was therefore unavailable to testify at defendant's second trial. Defendant had an adequate opportunity to develop the witness's testimony at his first trial. The testimony was not inadmissible under the confrontation clause of the Sixth Amendment. The trial court also did not commit any error in admitting the victim's hearsay statements into evidence. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Supreme Court, Judge: Colvin, Filed On: September 19, 2023, Case #: S23A0530, Categories: Confrontation, murder, witnesses
J. Gruender finds a lower court properly sentenced two defendants to life in prison after they were found guilty of conspiracy to commit witness tampering that resulted in death. The defendants, who are cousins and regularly sold meth, argued that their sentences are unreasonable and that they are entitled to acquittal. However, the government presented sufficient evidence in court that the defendants shot to death a confidential informant who agreed to testify against them while working with law enforcement. Affirmed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Gruender, Filed On: August 30, 2023, Case #: 22-2044, Categories: murder, Sentencing, witnesses
J. Balmer finds the Appeals Court properly overturned defendant’s aggravated murder conviction after determining that the trial court erred in failing to suppress statements of an informer for the state. “The state’s conduct…objectively conveyed that [the informant] was authorized to continue questioning defendant, that he should direct his questioning to certain topics, and that he could expect that he could earn a reward in his own cases from the state,” rendering him a state agent with respect to defendant. Affirmed.
Court: Oregon Supreme Court, Judge: Balmer, Filed On: August 10, 2023, Case #: S069454, Categories: murder, witnesses
J. Witt finds that the lower court properly denied defendant's ineffective assistance of counsel claim based on his counsel's failure to call a fact witness. Counsel strategically chose not to call the witness because their testimony about seeing two men yelling in front of the bar would not have been helpful to defendant's case, in that both men were seen with defendant immediately prior to the altercation. Affirmed.
Court: Missouri Court Of Appeals, Judge: Witt, Filed On: August 8, 2023, Case #: WD85293, Categories: Ineffective Assistance, murder, witnesses
J. Bolden finds the Michigan Supreme Court improperly found no due process violation in the trial court’s conviction of defendant for murder, assault and various weapons charges. The witness who identified defendant at trial did not identify him before trial and in fact identified different individuals as possible assailants before trial. The admissibility of in-court identification is premised on reliability, but the identification was not reliable. Reversed in part. Vacated in part and remanded.
Court: Michigan Supreme Court, Judge: Bolden, Filed On: July 31, 2023, Case #: 162373, Categories: murder, Due Process, witnesses
J. Green finds a lower court properly convicted a defendant for involuntary manslaughter after he engaged in a deadly beating of a man who died from his injuries. The defendant, a violent offender, argued that his conviction was not supported by evidence. However, the government presented sufficient evidence in court that a witness observed the defendant's victim "getting the shit beat out of him" and that defendant knocked him unconscious, which resulted in a fatal head injury. Affirmed.
Court: Kansas Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Green, Filed On: July 7, 2023, Case #: 124,775, Categories: murder, Manslaughter, witnesses
J. Loken finds a lower court properly sentenced a defendant to 540 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to carjacking that resulted in a female passenger's death, discharging a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence resulting in death, and two counts of tampering with witnesses. The defendant, who shot and killed the female passenger, argued that the lower court erred in imposing a mandatory consecutive sentence for her murder. However, the government presented sufficient evidence in court that his crime was a cold- blooded murder, in which he attempted to conceal, and that his alleged lack of childhood role models bears no weight, based on his devoid of "value of human life." Affirmed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Loken, Filed On: June 26, 2023, Case #: 22-2158, Categories: Firearms, murder, witnesses
J. McKinnon finds that the trial court admission of evidence from jailhouse informants did not compromise defendant's right to counsel. The informants were not state agents since they did not benefit from an agreement with the state or receive instructions from the state when they elicited information from defendant about two murders and one attempted murder. Also, though detectives did not discourage the informants from eliciting information, they did not encourage the behavior either. Affirmed.
Court: Montana Supreme Court, Judge: McKinnon, Filed On: June 13, 2023, Case #: DA 19-0471, Categories: murder, witnesses