People v. Brooks

At the conclusion of a jury trial, the defendant was found guilty of first-degree felony murder, and was sentenced to a term of life in prison. The Court of Appeals affirmed. Among the rejected claims of error was the defendant’s assertion that the circuit court erred by excluding evidence that there was cocaine in the decedent’s bloodstream at the time of her death. We agree with the defendant that this was error and that it was not harmless. We therefore reverse the judgments of the Court of Appeals and the circuit court, and remand this case to the circuit court for a new trial.

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This case…