State v. Ferguson
Annotate this CaseAppellant Calvin Ferguson was convicted of first-degree premeditated murder and sentenced to life in prison without any possibility of parole. On appeal, the Supreme Court reversed, holding that the district court erred when it excluded evidence that had an inherent tendency to connect an alternative perpetrator to the shooting of the victim because (1) the evidence showed that the alternative perpetrator's physical description was in several ways similar to the description of the shooter, (2) the alternative perpetrator's vehicle matched the description of the shooter's vehicle, (3) the alternative perpetrator's nickname matched that of the shooter, and (4) the alternative perpetrator had a connection with the victim. Because the district court's exclusion of the alternative perpetrator evidence denied Ferguson his constitutional right to present a complete defense and the court's error was not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt, the case was remanded for a new trial.
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