Maxwell v. State

George Rose Smith, Justice.

The appellant, Ernest Maxwell, Jr., was charged with first-degree murder in the death of Carol Conn, was found guilty in a two-stage trial, and was sentenced as an habitual offender to life imprisonment. We find it necessary to order a new trial, because the prosecuting attorney brought inadmissible and prejudicial matter to the jury’s attention and because the expert witness Monroe was permitted to state an inadmissible opinion.

On the morning of June 25, 1981, the badly battered body of Carol Conn, 20, clothed in a T-shirt, blue jeans, and tennis shoes, was found…