State v. Smiley

I am constrained to agree with the majority opinion not because I find the trial court rendered a correct ruling, but because the state failed to provide a proper record to enable this Court to review the trial court’s ruling.

As the majority points out, we must construe the record most favorably to uphold the trial court’s findings and judgments, and the applicable standard of review does not allow us to second-guess the trial court’s factual findings where they are based on testimonial evidence. This is especially true when the appellant’s assertion of error requires consideration of the…