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Lassic v. State

The trial court did not improperly comment on the evidence when it privately rebuked defense counsel for misstating the evidence in closing.

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Appellant Michael Lassic appeals his convictions for murder and cocaine possession,1 claiming that his trial counsel was ineffective and that the trial court improperly injected its opinion into proceedings. Finding both claims to be without merit, we affirm. The evidence of record shows that appellant and Sonya Cleveland were using cocaine one evening at Cleveland’s mobile home. When a drug dealer came to the door, an argument ensued about a drug debt Cleveland purportedly owed the dealer. The dealer then departed, leaving appellant alone with Cleveland. The following day, Cleveland’s body was discovered in her bed. She had died from multiple blunt force injuries to her head. Appellant’s freshly imprinted palm print was found on the wall above the bed. One of appellant’s shirts was discovered stuffed into a toilet bowl in the mobile home’s bathroom; although stained with blood, the shirt’s condition made DNA testing impossible. Cleveland’s blood was later found on another of appellant’s shirts found at his home. Post-mortem testing indicated that appellant and Cleveland had engaged in sex on the night of the murder.

At trial, appellant testified that after the drug dealer departed the mobile home, he and Cleveland had a disagreement over the drug debt, and that appellant then left Cleveland’s home and went to the home of his cousin, Spears. Appellant claimed that he and Spears then used drugs until late into the night. Spears, however, testified that he did not see appellant until the following afternoon, when Spears arrived home and found appellant sitting on the porch without a shirt.

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