Cromartie v. State

Anthony Jerome Cromartie appeals his manslaughter conviction and resulting 15-year sentence as a prison releasee reoffen-der, assigning as grounds for reversal the trial court’s exclusion of evidence of the victim’s blood-alcohol level at the time the appellant hit him and the victim fell, which led, some days later, to the victim’s death. Mr. Cromartie argues on appeal, as he did below, that the excluded evidence was relevant to his theory of self-defense.1 We agree that the evidence was relevant to his theory of self-defense, reverse for that reason, and remand for a new trial.

The State…