Justia Criminal Law Opinion Summaries

The Court of Appeals reversed the judgment of the circuit court convicting Defendant of first-degree murder and related handgun offenses, holding that the circuit court abused its discretion in permitting a firearms examiner to testify, without qualification, that bullets left at a murder scene were filed from a gun Defendant had acknowledged was his, and the error was not harmless.On appeal, Defendant argued that the circuit court abused its discretion in admitting the firearms identification testimony based on testimony, reports, and studies that called into question the reliability of firearms identification analysis. The Court of Appeals agreed and reversed the case for a new trial, holding that the circuit court (1) did not abuse its discretion in ruling that the firearms examiner could testify about firearms identification generally and other information; but (2) erred in permitting the examiner to opine without qualification that the crime scene bullets were fired from Defendant's firearm. View "Abruquah v. State" on Justia Law