Jackson v. State

Michael Jackson was convicted of aggravated assault. Following the denial of his motion for new trial, Jackson appeals, challenging the sufficiency of the evidence and the trial court’s rulings with regard to admission of certain testimony. Having reviewed the record, we discern no error and affirm. Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the evidence showed that during a night of drinking alcohol, Jackson and the victim had an argument that escalated into a fist fight when Jackson made an insulting remark concerning the victim’s father. During the fight, Jackson bit the victim on the shoulder. A third man broke up the fight, but Jackson and victim continued to shout at each other. The victim then noticed that he had blood on his hand and told Jackson, “you’re leaking now,” as he was under the impression that he had hit Jackson in the nose and that the blood on his hand was Jackson’s blood. The entire altercation lasted approximately 15 minutes.

After other bystanders demanded that the victim leave, the victim walked to his home. When he arrived at his front porch, he began breathing heavily. The victim went to his bedroom to lie down on his bed when he began to experience more labored breathing. He took off his shirt and looked in a mirror and noticed cuts on his back. Paramedics were called to the victim’s home.