Lanham v. Commonwealth

I. INTRODUCTION

Appellant, Philip Lanham, was convicted of murdering his wife and tampering with physical evidence of his crime. He was sentenced to life in prison. He claims that the trial court erred in allowing the jury to hear an unedited recording of his confession wherein a police officer repeatedly accused him of lying, in admitting inflammatory entries from the victim’s diary, and in refusing to grant him a new trial based on prejudice stemming from the actions of the victim’s family in the courtroom. Because we hold that the officer’s comments were necessary to provide context for…