Criminal Law: Courtroom Outburst-Out-Of-Court Statements-Rebuttal

Staff Report//March 11, 2019

Where a defendant in a first-degree murder case argued that the trial court erred in failing to grant a mistrial after an emotional outburst in the courtroom by the victim’s daughter, the defendant failed to show why denying a mistrial and giving the jury a limiting instruction was insufficient to cure any potential prejudice that might have resulted from the outburst, and out-of-court statements made by the victim’s sister about the defendant’s abuse of the victim were cumulative so were not plain error and did not violate the confrontation clause, so the judgment is affirmed because the defendant also did not show that the rebuttal argument was improper.

Judgment is affirmed.

State v. Holman (MLW No. 72868/Case No. SD35247 – 11 pages) (Missouri Court of Appeals, Southern District, Burrell, J.) Appealed from circuit court, Lawrence County, Goodman, J. (Garrick Aplin, Jefferson City, for respondent) (Ellen H. Flottman, Columbia, for appellant).