Riggins v. State

OPINION

COATS, Chief Judge.

The State charged Damyan Riggins with assault in the second degree, a class B felony, for striking his girlfriend Melinda Berkeen in the face with a dangerous instrument-a telephone. 1 At trial, Riggins admitted hitting Berkeen with his fist, but denied that he had hit her with the telephone. Riggins's defense, therefore, was that he had committed a misdemeanor assault, not an assault with a dangerous instrument, which is a felony. At Riggins's trial, the State admitted evidence that Rig-gins had committed prior assaults on Ber-keen. The State also admitted evidence…