Barnes v. State

Deen, Presiding Judge.

Tom Barnes, Jr., appeals from his convictions of burglary and recidivism following the denial of his motion for a new trial.

1. In his opening statement the district attorney stated: “When Detective Bobby Shephard, also of the Athens Police Department arrested the defendant in this case on another charge in October of 1980, he found his watch that I just described lying in plain view.” Defense counsel objected claiming that the statement called Barnes’ character into question and moved for a mistrial. The motion was denied and counsel requested curative instructions and…