Williams v. State

Phipps, Judge.

In this out-of-time appeal of his conviction of voluntary manslaughter, Walter Lee Williams complains of the trial court’s refusal to admit evidence of violence by the victim toward a third party unless he testified. As a result of that ruling, Williams took the stand and testified, although he would not have otherwise done so. Williams charges the trial court with error, because the state itself laid the foundation for admission of such evidence through presentation in its case-in-chief of pretrial statements made by Williams. We agree that the trial court committed harmful…