Ex Parte State of Alabama. (in Re Kevin Andre Towles v. State of Alabama)

Summary

The court affirmed the reversal of Towles's capital-murder conviction, holding that evidence of Towles's prior abuse of another son was not sufficiently relevant to prove that he intended to kill the victim and was highly prejudicial. The court also held that the trial court's limiting instruction improperly permitted the jury to consider the evidence for purposes beyond those supported by the record, and that these errors constituted plain error despite Towles's failure to object to the final instruction. There were no separate opinions.