Paul v. State

Vishaul Paul was convicted of second-degree murder. This was Paul’s second trial; the first ended in a mistrial after a hung jury. The primary evidence against Paul was the testimony of his seventeen-year-old brother-in-law and codefendant, Dhanesh Hardeosingh, who entered a plea to second-degree murder with a negotiated sentence of seventeen and one-half years in the Department of Corrections.

Paul’s wife was having an affair with the victim, -Jaiprakash' “Derek” Mohan. The State’s theory of the case was that Paul, his brother and Hardeosingh sought revenge by beating Mohan. During the…