State v. Texeira
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The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant's conviction and sentence for murder in the second degree, holding that third party culpability evidence was erroneously excluded, but the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.
On appeal, Defendant asserted (1) the trial court abused its discretion by excluding evidence tending to show that a third party committed the offense; (2) the trial court erred by admitting into evidence a confession letter allegedly written by Defendant because of its late disclosure to the defense; and (3) DNA results showing Defendant's presence at the crime scene were improperly admitted at trial. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting the confession letter at trial because the timing of the State's disclosure did not require exclusion; (2) a sufficient foundation to admit the results of the DNA analyses was established to allow their admission into evidence; and (3) evidence of the third party's culpability was improperly excluded, but the exclusion was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.
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