Bates v. State

Summary

The court affirmed the convictions of three defendants arising from a robbery and shooting, holding that the evidence was constitutionally sufficient and, for one defendant, also satisfied the circumstantial-evidence statute. The court declined to reach one defendant’s Confrontation Clause claim because he acquiesced to a curative instruction and failed to renew his mistrial motion. It also upheld the conspiracy instruction and the admission of jailhouse-informant testimony because slight evidence supported a conspiracy and there was no evidence of an agreement making the informant a government agent.