Lewis v. State (Majority)
Annotate this CaseAfter a jury trial, Appellant was found guilty of capital murder, for which he was sentenced to a term of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, and other offenses. On appeal, Appellant argued that the circuit court erred by not allowing him to cross-examine his codefendant about her prior misdemeanor third-degree domestic battery conviction for having stabbed Appellant. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the circuit court did not abuse its discretion in excluding the evidence, as (1) the testimony had very little probative value relating to the codefendant’s alleged bias against Appellant; (2) Appellant failed to establish that the evidence was proper modus operandi evidence; and (3) Appellant failed to put forth evidence to make a defense that the codefendant was the person who stabbed the victim.
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