State v. Ellis

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• recognizing that when a criminal statute specifically lists covered locations, those not mentioned are excluded
• clarifying that while police officer may testify as expert in crime scene processing and fingerprint identification, he may not testify to ultimate issue as to whether defendant acted in self-defense
• reversing and remanding appellant's sentence and conviction because \an unqualified witness was permitted to offer an expert opinion on the ultimate issue\
• explaining improper testimony that went to the heart of the case was not harmless
• finding police officer, who was qualified as an expert in crime scene processing and fingerprint identification, exceeded the scope of his expertise when he was permitted to testify to conclusions drawn from the location and position of the victim's body at the time of the shooting
• finding police officer, who was qualified as an expert in crime scene processing and fingerprint identification, exceeded the scope of his expertise when he was permitted to testify to conclusions drawn from the location and position of the victim’s body at the time of the shooting

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).

Cited by

22 cases in this archive cite this case; the 20 most cited are listed.

• State v. Jennings
  Supreme Court of South Carolina· 2011-09-19· cited 122×
• State v. Commander
  Supreme Court of South Carolina· 2011-10-31· cited 51×
• State v. Douglas
  Supreme Court of South Carolina· 2009-01-12· cited 48×
• State v. Tapp
  Supreme Court of South Carolina· 2012-06-06· cited 45×
• State v. Douglas
  Court of Appeals of South Carolina· 2006-01-23· cited 33×
• State v. White
  Court of Appeals of South Carolina· 2007-01-16· cited 19×
• State v. Standard
  Supreme Court of South Carolina· 2002-08-12· cited 16×
• Risher v. South Carolina Department of Health & Environmental Control
  Supreme Court of South Carolina· 2011-06-20· cited 13×
• State v. Green
  Court of Appeals of South Carolina· 2015-03-11· cited 12×
• Nelson v. Taylor
  Court of Appeals of South Carolina· 2001-09-17· cited 9×
• Hamrick v. State
  Supreme Court of South Carolina· 2019-05-15· cited 9×
• State v. Huckabee
  Court of Appeals of South Carolina· 2017-03-15· cited 8×
• In re the Care & Treatment of Thomas S.
  Supreme Court of South Carolina· 2013-04-10· cited 3×
• Mangal v. State
  Court of Appeals of South Carolina· 2015-12-30· cited 3×
• URIAS (BRANDON) v. DIST. CT. (STATE) (CRIMINAL)
  Nevada Supreme Court· 2025-05-08· cited 3×
• State v. Andrews
  Court of Appeals of South Carolina· 2018-07-18· cited 2×
• State v. Westmoreland
  Court of Appeals of South Carolina· 2017-07-12· cited 2×
• Risher v. SOUTH CAROLINA DEPT. OF HEALTH
  Supreme Court of South Carolina· 2011-06-20
• State v. Prather
  Supreme Court of South Carolina· 2020-03-11
• State v. Zantravious Randell Hall
  Court of Appeals of South Carolina· 2022-06-01

Cites

8 cases in this archive are cited by this case.

• Hopt v. Utah
  Supreme Court· 1887-03-07· cited 330×
• State v. Von Dohlen
  Supreme Court of South Carolina· 1996-05-28· cited 85×
• Fordham v. State
  Supreme Court of Georgia· 1985-02-15· cited 52×
• State v. King
  Supreme Court of South Carolina· 1999-03-08· cited 49×
• Brown v. State
  Supreme Court of South Carolina· 2001-01-08· cited 44×
• State v. Sullivan
  Supreme Court of South Carolina· 1895-02-20· cited 13×
• State v. Gilchrist
  Supreme Court of South Carolina· 2000-08-21· cited 11×
• State v. Wilkins
  Court of Appeals of South Carolina· 1991-08-05· cited 7×