State v. Stills

MARTIN, Justice.

Defendant first claims that certain testimony designated as “corroborative” by the state far exceeded the proper bounds of corroboration and should never have been permitted by the trial court. We agree and remand this case for a new trial.

Toby Crandall and Glenda Cook were the only persons to testify as to matters they claimed to have observed firsthand. In addition, the state called six corroborative witnesses: family members Altha Joyce Crandall and Tammy Jones; Officer Marshall Gravley of the Buncombe County Sheriffs Department; Jane Olmsted of the Forsyth County…