Ross v. State

The rules of evidence favor admission of any relevant evidence, not matter how slight its probative value, so the trial court did not err in admitting the gun found on the side of the road, following the defendant's arrest.

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A jury found Shedrick Ross guilty of armed robbery, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, conspiracy to commit armed robbery and possession of tools for the commission of a crime. Ross appeals, arguing the trial court erred in denying his pretrial motion to exclude the gun found at the side of the road following his arrest. Ross also argues that his trial counsel was ineffective. We find no error and affirm Ross’ convictions. 1. The trial court properly allowed the admission of the handgun found on the side of the road. The evidence in the record shows that as police attempted to stop a car involved in suspicious activity, Ross, the car’s driver, tried to ram one of the officer’s cars. A chase ensued. Ross drove under a bridge and drove all the way across the lanes to the far left shoulder, westbound in the eastbound lanes. Officers briefly lost sight of Ross’ vehicle as it went under the bridge. The chase ended when Ross subsequently crashed. The officers asked Ross and his passenger if they had a gun, and Ross’ co-defendant replied, “he couldn’t have thrown anything out the window.”

Officers walked to the area where they had lost sight of Ross’ vehicle, approximately one-tenth of a mile from the site of the wreck. There they found a black .38 caliber gun with a brown wooden handle. The gun was ten feet from the road, near the woods off an embankment. The gun was not covered by pine straw or debris and was in plain view. It was wet from the rain that morning. The weapon had five live rounds in it. Although no fingerprints were found and Ross denied the handgun was his, a detective testified that he had information that a black handgun with a wooden handle was used in the armed robbery.

Ross v. State

The rules of evidence favor admission of any relevant evidence, not matter how slight its probative value, so the trial court did not err in admitting the gun found on the side of the road, following the defendant's arrest.

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