State of West Virginia v. Calvin O. Atkins

Summary

The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia affirmed Calvin O. Atkins's second-degree murder conviction. The court held that West Virginia law continues to permit private prosecutors, subject to judicial control and the same standards of conduct as public prosecutors, and found no error in the private prosecutor's failure to disclose his fee or in his extensive participation at trial. The court also held that the trial court's admission of the defendant's two prior convictions for impeachment, though error under State v. McAboy, was harmless under a newly articulated two-step harmless-error analysis for nonconstitutional evidentiary error. Finally, the court held that cross-examination of a defense witness with 'comparative testimony' was not reversible error. Justice Harshbarger dissented, arguing that harmless-error doctrine invites subjective judicial judgments that erode procedural rules.