SHOW OUTLINE:
- TN biz groups oppose English only drivers liscenses
Tiger Woods tees off at the Masters in Augusta. Chattanooga Times Free Press writer Jay Greeson writes this morning "He shoots 64, he leads newscasts around the country. He shoots 84, he may lead newscasts around the world."
Handgun-in-bars bill passes subcommittee in Nashville. Close vote. Why shouldn't legal permit holders be able to conceal carry any where?
More financial problems for the Chattanooga City Council.
Gas company wants increase and people oppose it. It is always amazing how we see price hikes in bad economy times, and that only makes the matter worse.
This one bugs me..and I'm no lawyer. A mother previously did abusive things to her daughter. However, those prior issues can't be brought up in court when she is on trial for neglect. I thought the judicial system was supposed to be based on "justice." My buddy and lawyer Matt Burke will join me to discuss this around 10:38am et.
Matt Burke wrote ..."The court decided to exclude evidence that Traci Carpenter repeatedly abused her child, which may have lead to the child's death. Her boyfriend has been acquitted of the crime of felony murder. The main reason for this is that the indictment on Carpenter was very narrow for the crime of aggravated child neglect, only including a 24 hour period. This was likely a tactical decision made by the prosecutor as the evidence may have been less than reliable.
Generally, such character evidence is inadmissible as it has a prejudicial impact on the case, and offers little probative value. These types of independent crimes or actions are only admissible if they show motive, intent, identity, or a similar plan or scheme (there are others, but these are the most common).
The main reason why the judge threw out these other acts was because the prosecutors never charged Traci Carpenter with these crimes. I suspect the reason why she was never charged with those crimes is that the evidence was not sufficient to get a guilty verdict, and was likely based on testimony from other drug users and other reprobates, testimony that would be destroyed by a defense attorney at trial.
If Traci Carpenter were to testify on her behalf at trial, and say that she was a good mother, or something like that, then the prosecution could offer rebuttal testimony about all of the other bad acts described above."
