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Oliver v. State

The trial court did not err in excluding evidence of the victim's propensity for violence, as the defendant failed to make the required prima facie showing that he acted in self-defense in shooting the victim.

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Following trial, a jury convicted Darius Oliver of one count each of voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, criminal trespass, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. Oliver appeals his convictions and the denial of his motion for new trial, arguing that the trial court erred in excluding evidence of the victim’s propensity for violence. For the reasons set forth infra, we affirm Oliver’s convictions.

Viewed in the light most favorable to the jury’s verdict,1 the record shows that in the early morning hours of April 29, 2012, Chasmyn Donald was out with friends when she received a call from her boyfriend, Oliver, who asked her to pick him up from a nightclub that he and his friends had just left. But shortly after Donald and her friends picked up Oliver and his friends, she and Oliver began arguing. This argument escalated into a fight, at which point Donald’s friend, who was driving, demanded that Oliver and his friends get out of her car. They complied, but as Donald and her friends drove away, Oliver drew a handgun he was carrying and fired it into the air.

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