 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Stevenson v. State3/2/2001
ial judge... This is where such power should lie because, unless some discretion is vested in the trial judge, every ruling upon the admissibility of a particular fact, of a kind above-mentioned, becomes a law unto itself. If any particular rule of evidence runs into numerous borderline cases, we must either give the trial court some discretion in applying it or admit that the rule is not workable at all."
We find no error in the trial court's refusal to admit the photographs into evidence.
While the defendant testified at trial that the victim had attempted to stab her with a knife during the altercation, she could not identify the knife in the defense photographs as the one that was used. The only witness who could identify the knife could identify it only as the one she found the day after the altercation in the area of the killing. There was no testimony to connect the knife with the altercation itself.
Therefore, the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it excluded from evidence the photographs of a knife found near the scene the day after the altercation.
III.
Stevenson also claims that she was prejudiced when the trial court excused a juror who had fallen asleep during closing arguments. Because we are reversing the judgment on another issue, it is not necessary to reach the merits of this issue.
IV.
The judgment of the trial court must be reversed and the cause remanded for a new trial.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
McMillan, P.J., and Baschab, Shaw, and Wise, JJ., concur.
|