State v. Baird

One morning after James Thomas Baird and his wife, Susan, had coffee together, Baird followed Susan upstairs, beat her unconscious, then surgically disfigured her face. At trial, Baird offered evidence of an illegally-recorded conversation which Baird claimed triggered the assault. This case requires us to confront, for the first time, the competing interests involved when a criminal defendant offers evidence obtained in violation of the Privacy Act. Because we conclude that Baird’s right to present his defense was not compromised by exclusion of the evidence, and that other evidence rulings…