State v. Bell

Eddie Wayne Bell was found guilty and sentenced in Pierce County Superior Court for the second degree murder of Pete Brudevold, the Mayor of Ruston. Bell appeals the conviction, assigning error to the trial court's exclusion of certain evidence regarding the victim's alleged homosexual tendencies and to its refusal to instruct the jury on the claimed defenses of justifiable and excusable homicide. We affirm.

There were no witnesses to the incident which led to the charge and Bell did not testify at trial. The State relied to a large extent on statements that Bell gave to the police following…