State v. Myers

Summary

The court affirmed the defendant's murder conviction, concluding that the exclusion of additional third-party culpability evidence, even if erroneous, was nonconstitutional and harmless. The defendant presented substantial evidence implicating the victim's neighbor, while the state's evidence was strong and the excluded evidence was largely cumulative or tangential. The court also held that the trial court acted within its discretion in denying a mistrial because the prosecutor's questions about laboratory testing did not shift the burden of proof and were addressed by clear jury instructions.