People v. Speight

Defendants appeal a decision in which both were convicted of armed robbery and attempted armed robbery of a couple on January 14, 1988. Anthony Speight (Speight) was sentenced to 15 years in prison, and Melvin Whitten (Whitten) was sentenced to six years in prison. Their cases have been consolidated on appeal.

Speight contends that: (1) a police officer’s testimony as to narcotics paraphernalia found on the defendant’s person constituted inadmissible evidence of other crimes and denied the defendant a fair trial; (2) the State’s definition of “reasonable doubt” in its closing argument as…