Following a jury trial, defendant, a thirty six year old man, was convicted of Assault in the Second Degree, a Class D violent felony. The Court sentenced him to seven years incarceration.
During the trial, the judge allowed the jury to hear evidence about two prior assaults that had occurred over fifteen years earlier.
J & G represented the defendant on appeal. On appeal we argued that the introduction of the two prior assaults denied defendant a fair trial. Specifically, we asserted that the introduction of the prior assaults was a deliberate attempt by the prosecution to convict the defendant based on his past convictions. Our appellate brief argued that the defendant had the right to have the jury fairly evaluate whether or not he committed the assault for which he was on trial, without being swayed by crimes he committed fifteen years earlier while a much younger man.
The Appellate Court agreed that the introduction of the prior crimes denied the defendant a fair trial. The court reversed his conviction and ordered the local court to give him a new trial.
Cited
As of: May 03, 2007
