Opinion ID: 1346963
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Fist FightThree Years Before the Alleged Crime

Text: The fistfight at the Friendly Mart started when Owens sucker punched a man named Elzie Branham. Branham and Owens had previously been involved in an altercation. Lively was not present during their first altercation. There was no evidence or suggestion that Owens and Lively were actively looking for Branham and intending to assault him. Rather, the evidence was that Owens and Lively came into this store, Branham happened to be there, and Owens instigated a fight with him. Lively did not join in the fight between Branham and Owens; instead, he tackled a man who was with Branham, Randy Birchfield, so that Birchfield would not join in the fight between Branham and Owens. While Lively was not familiar with Birchfield prior to this altercation, the testimony at trial revealed that Birchfield was a disabled coal miner. Additionally, when Birchfield and Lively began fighting, Birchfield's wife attempted to break them up and Lively inadvertently hit her. The State was therefore able to paint Lively as a despicable person who beat up a disabled coal miner and punched the man's wife. The circuit court admitted this evidence finding it demonstrated a common scheme and plan between Lively and Owens to act together to carry out crimes and violence. It is beyond imagination that a bar fight that took place three years before the charged crime has probative value demonstrating that Lively and Owens acted together to set a fire that killed Dr. Whitley.