Marvin Arrell Stanton v. State of Arkansas

Summary

The court reversed Stanton’s murder conviction and remanded for a new trial because the prosecutor solicited campaign signatures from prospective jurors during trial and displayed campaign materials at the courthouse security station, creating an appearance of impropriety that undermined the integrity and fundamental fairness of the proceeding. The court held that no showing of actual prejudice was required under these circumstances. It also upheld the exclusion of evidence concerning the victim’s intoxication because Stanton did not know of the intoxication and the evidence did not bear on his state of mind or the reasonableness of his justification defense.