Philip Littler, Appellant (defendant Below) v. State of Indiana, Appellee (plaintiff Below)

Summary

The court held that excluding the mother’s testimony corroborating the victim’s prior violent acts was erroneous and not harmless because the testimony was relevant to the objective reasonableness of the defendant’s claimed self-defense and would have bolstered his credibility. It reversed the murder conviction and remanded for a new trial, while affirming the rejection of the insufficiency claim and leaving the other convictions undisturbed because the evidentiary error was harmless as to them.