State v. Wooten

Under present Missouri law, I am constrained to concur.

We, as appellate courts, repeatedly state that a trial court’s refusal to permit an alibi witness to testify is a drastic action, as drastic an action as granting a mistrial, and, therefore, when a request for either action is made, the trial court should exercise extreme caution in granting either request. See, e.g., State v. Mansfield, 637 S.W.2d 699, 703 (Mo. banc 1982); State v. Gooch, 659 S.W.2d 342, 343-344 (Mo.App.1983). It is curious, however, that, more often than not, we affirm the grant of the state’s request to prevent an…