State v. Crouch

NEELY, Justice:

We granted this appeal because of our concern that evidence had been tampered with at Lanny Crouch’s murder trial. Upon review, we find that the weight of the evidence shows that this did not occur.

Mr. Crouch was convicted of first degree murder without mercy following a jury trial in the Circuit Court of Wyoming County on 10-12 March 1986. We affirmed Mr. Crouch’s conviction in State v. Crouch, 178 W.Va. 221, 358 S.E.2d 782 (1987).

On 17 May 1990, Ann Lawson, secretary of the Wyoming County Prosecutor Paul Goode, informed the prosecutor that while working as chief dispatcher…