Opinion ID: 1060393
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 23

Heading: admission of a rifle and shells into evidence

Text: Appellant Sutton contends that the trial court erred when it admitted the .303 rifle and the.303 shells that were found at Dellinger's residence into evidence. Specifically, Sutton contends that this evidence was inadmissible because it was not relevant to any issue in the case. We disagree. As this Court has previously stated, the determination of whether evidence is relevant is within the sound discretion of the trial court. State v. Griffis, 964 S.W.2d 577, 594 (Tenn.Crim.App.1997). In this case, investigators testified that a .303 rifle shell had been found in the burned car that contained Branam's body. In addition, Carmen testified that he had determined that this rifle shell was fired from the .303 rifle that was found in Dellinger's residence. This evidence helped connect Appellants to the Branam murder and as we have previously stated, evidence regarding the Branam murder was very relevant to establishing the identity of Griffin's killers. Thus, we conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it admitted this evidence. This issue has no merit.