State v. Sites

The Supreme Court affirmed the order of the circuit court sentencing Petitioner for his convictions of first-degree murder, holding a hostage to file, and two counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, holding that there was no error in the proceedings below.Specifically, the Court held (1) Petitioner’s failure to object to the admission of toxicology evidence at trial precluded the Court from addressing the matter in this appeal; (2) the trial court did not err in admitting certain evidence pursuant to Rule 404(b) of the West Virginia Rules of Evidence; (3) the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying Petitioner’s motion to sever the hostage count from the remaining charges; (4) an alleged severance error did not meet the standard for invoking the plain error rule; (5) the trial court did not commit reversible error in responding to jury questions in Petitioner’s absence and the absence of his counsel; and (6) the evidence was sufficient to find Petitioner guilty as to first-degree murder and delivering a controlled substance. View "State v. Sites" on Justia Law