Opinion ID: 1091604
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: whether the trial court erred in admitting photographs of the victim.

Text: Eight color photographs of the deceased and the scene of the crime were admitted into evidence at the trial. Appellant argues that the pictures are gruesome and repetitious and therefore served only to inflame the jury. This Court has repeatedly held that the fact that a photograph of the deceased in a homicide case might arouse the emotions of the jurors, does not of itself render it incompetent evidence as long as its introduction serves some useful evidentiary purpose. Butler v. State, 320 So.2d 786 (Miss. 1975); May v. State, 199 So.2d 635 (Miss. 1967). The admissibility of photographs rests within the sound discretion of the trial judge and will be upheld absent a showing of abuse of discretion. Edwards v. State, 413 So.2d 1007 (Miss. 1982); Steed v. State, 396 So.2d 625 (Miss. 1981); Irving v. State, 228 So.2d 266 (Miss. 1969). The photographs admitted in the case sub judice depicted the location of the wound and tended to negate defendant's assertion that the deceased had reached under his shirt as if going for a gun prior to the shooting. Moreover, the pictures of the interior of the bar tended to negate defendant's statement that he placed the decedent in a chair after the shooting, inasmuch as no blood is depicted upon any of the chairs. This assignment of error is without merit.