Stokes v. State
Annotate this CaseDefendant was convicted of murder, felony murder, cruelty to children, and aggravated battery for the death of his four-month-old baby. Defendant appealed, contending, among other things, that the evidence was insufficient to support the verdict and that he received ineffective assistance of trial counsel. The court held that the evidence adduced at trial was sufficient to authorize a rational trier of fact to find defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the charges for which he was convicted. The court held that defendant failed to support his contention of ineffective assistance of counsel with any evidence other than his own speculation and, as such, his argument in this regard was rejected. The court further held that there was no error in the admission of evidence of defendant's prior difficulty in which he squeezed and threw the baby at his mother where the evidence was properly admitted to show defendant's bent of mind towards and course of conduct with the baby. The court further held that the photographs and testimony regarding the baby's prior healing rib fracture both served as part of the basis of the medical expert's opinion regarding the mechanism of death and was relevant to prior difficulty testimony showing that defendant had improperly squeezed the baby in the past. Therefore, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting this relevant evidence. Accordingly, the judgment was affirmed.
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