Zachary Minor v. State of Mississippi

Summary

The Mississippi Supreme Court held that multiple errors during Zachary Minor’s drug trial collectively deprived him of a fundamentally fair trial. The errors included commenting on his right to remain silent, eliciting inflammatory testimony about children consuming drug-laced edibles, admitting inadmissible hearsay implicating him in prior similar conduct, and relying on that hearsay and his codefendant’s guilt during closing argument. Although individual errors were procedurally barred or might not independently warrant reversal, their cumulative effect required a new trial.