Eatherton v. State

THOMAS, Justice.

The primary issue for us to resolve in this case is whether, in a criminal trial, the prosecution must be foreclosed from introducing evidence to establish one or more of the elements of the crime if that evidence also depicts conduct that would tend to establish a crime of which the defendant was acquitted in a prior trial. In the first trial, Patrick Eatherton (Eatherton) was convicted of burglary, but acquitted of larceny, with both charges arising out of a continuum of circumstances. The trial court ruled that the State was not foreclosed from introducing evidence that the…