People v. Hardimon

Defendant was convicted, after jury trial, of 1st degree murder and unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon.Defense counsel was ineffective for failing to move to redact or otherwise exclude final 2/3 of video recording of police interview. That portion of interview was comprised of comments by officers which impermissibly bolstered State's case and inflamed passions of jury. As Defendant was adamant that he was not involved in shooting and did not change his version of events throughout the interview, the final 2/3 of interview had no probative value,a nd was highly prejudicial, and removed finding of guilt from province of jury as detectives conclusively stated that Defendant was guilty of murder. (SCHMIDT and WRIGHT, concurring.)