Opinion ID: 2826316
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: the turner claim—la casella’s testimony.

Text: Cummings first alleges that the prosecution violated his due process rights by calling as a witness Deputy David La Casella, who served as a courtroom bailiff and security 10 CUMMINGS V. MARTEL officer during a portion of Cummings’s trial. La Casella testified that he overheard Cummings talking with Gay in their holding cells during a break in trial proceedings. During that conversation, Cummings stated that the bullet identified by the medical examiner as “number six” was “the one I put in the m-----f-----.” Based on the tone and circumstances of the conversation, La Casella understood this statement as Cummings’s confession to firing the first shot at Officer Verna. Cummings argues the former bailiff’s testimony violated due process because La Casella had undue influence by virtue of his role as the jury’s “official guardian.” Turner deals with a seldom-litigated principle of criminal procedure, so we begin with an explanation of that case and its lone sequel in the Supreme Court, Gonzales v. Beto,