Belton v. State

Terrance Belton v. State of Maryland, No. 8, September Term, 2022. Opinion by Biran, J. CRIMINAL LAW – TRIAL – HARMLESS ERROR – The Supreme Court of Maryland held that the State did not show beyond a reasonable doubt that the trial court’s erroneous exclusion of the decedent’s statement “This is my block” in no way influenced the jury’s finding that Petitioner was guilty of voluntary manslaughter and use of a firearm in the commission of a crime of violence. The excluded statement was not merely cumulative evidence of the decedent’s animus; instead, it went to the objective reasonableness of…