State v. Higginbotham

Rogosheske, Justice.

Defendant, Gary Higginbotham, appeals from a second-degree murder conviction. Because we hold inadmissible a declaration against penal interest which is not proven trustworthy by independent evidence, and because the United States Supreme Court has held that the Sixth Amendment does not grant the right to have counsel present at a postindictment photographic identification, we affirm the conviction.

The killing occurred as a result of a racial slur uttered by the deceased, Richard Bushey. On the night of the homicide, Bushey and a few friends were standing in the street…