Morrison v. State

OPINION

THOMAS, Chief Justice.

The issue is whether jurors should be allowed to pose written questions to witnesses during a criminal trial. Although not banning the practice entirely, we find an abuse of discretion and harm when the court allowed the prosecution to use a juror’s question, which was never asked of a witness, to gain an unfair advantage in the trial. Accordingly, the judgment assessing Appellant a fifty-year sentence for murder is reversed and the cause remanded for a new trial.

THE MURDER

Linda Johns brought Appellant to her house to exchange sex for drugs and locked the doors…