Coggins v. State

Following a jury trial, Corey Blaine Coggins was found guilty of malice murder and felony murder in connection with the stabbing death of Daniel Smith.1 On appeal Coggins contends, among other things, that the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to support the verdict and that the trial court erred by allowing the State to improperly bolster a witness’ credibility with the introduction of a prior consistent statement. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

1. Viewed in the light most favorable to the jury’s verdict, the evidence reveals that, on August 18, 2001, Coggins and two of his friends got into a fight with Smith based on an earlier accusation by one of Coggins’ friends, Chris Jarrard, that Smith was a police informant. Following Jarrard’s initial accusation that Smith was an informant, Coggins affirmed to Smith repeatedly that he, too, believed that Smith was “snitching” on others. Smith was angered by the accusation, and Coggins took Smith to one of Coggins’ friend’s houses so that Smith could confront Jarrard about accusing him of being an informant. Smith then confronted and began fighting with one of Coggins’ other friends, but eventually Coggins and Jarrard jumped into the fight as well and ganged up on Smith. During the fight, Coggins stabbed Smith twice in the chest, killing him.