State v. Brooks

SMITH, Presiding Judge.

Defendant appeals from his convictions by a jury of assault with intent to maim with malice, and robbery in the first degree. The court found defendant to be a second offender and sentenced him to 55 years on the assault charge and 15 years on the robbery charge, to run concurrently.

The assault charged was the vicious, detestable and unprovoked blinding of a seventeen year old girl, Wilma Chestnut. The crime and subsequent trial of defendant generated considerable press coverage, both locally and nationally. Defendant raises eight claims of error.

Since one of those…