Lawrence v. State

Appellant seeks review of a judgment of conviction based upon a jury verdict finding him guilty of murder in the second degree. Appellant was sentenced to serve thirty years in the state penitentiary.

Appellant’s sole point on appeal is whether the trial court erred in sustaining the prosecutor’s objection to the introduction of the defendant’s signed statement to police that he killed E. J. Pierce in self defense.

Appellant contends that the statement was crucial to his defense and such exclusion denied him due process of law under the. fifth and fourteenth amendments to the United States…