State v. Matheson

How courts have described this case

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

• holding where impermissible victim impact statements were submitted containing information regarding unrelated crimes committed in another state, error was not harmless
• noting that “legal training helps equip those in the profession to remain unaffected by matters that should not influence the determination”
• noting that “legal training helps equip those in the profession to remain unaffected by matters that should not influence the determination”
• reasoning that by overruling the defendant’s objection to the victim impact statements, the court determined the evidence was admissible at the sentencing hearing and nothing in the record indicated the court changed its mind before pronouncing sentence
• advising district courts to “make it clear the offending evidence was not a consideration” when improper evidence is introduced at sentencing
• noting courts are less likely to reverse when inadmissible evidence is introduced in a bench trial than in a jury trial

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).