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Black v. State

Defendant's argument that the interrogating officer induced his statement by mentioning that death was a possible penalty was meritless since the decision to seek death penalty is a matter for the state to decide, not a police officer.

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Benjamin Black was convicted of malice murder and possession of a knife during the commission of a crime arising out of the stabbing death of Mark Anthony Smith. He appeals from the denial of his motion for a new trial.1 Finding sufficient evidence to support the verdict and no error in the trial court’s evidentiary rulings, we affirm.

1. On August 24, 1997, appellant was out drinking with three friends, Lamb, Leslie and Hand, when Mark Smith passed their car. Leslie yelled a racially inflammatory statement and Smith allegedly answered back. Leslie then jumped from the car and started chasing Smith while the others followed, first in the car and then appellant and Lamb on foot. When the three men caught Smith, Leslie started beating him while Lamb struck him in the face with a beer can and appellant stabbed him multiple times in the abdomen. At trial, Hand testified that when appellant returned to the car, he had a bloody knife and blood on his shorts. Later, when all four were at Hand’s house, appellant told witnesses that he had “poked a man.” Smith’s body was found the following day. It was stipulated at trial that he died as the result of two stab wounds to the abdomen that caused massive bleeding. Based on information from a confidential informant, police questioned the four men. Appellant, after being advised of his Miranda rights, gave a statement in which he initially blamed the stabbing on his co-indictees. In a later statement appellant admitted that he only meant to “stick” the victim but he pushed too hard and stabbed him instead.

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