Opinion ID: 438824
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: the inflammatory evidence issue

Text: 33 During the resentencing trial, one of the investigating officers who had first examined the murder scene testified that a portion of the victim's ear and various other fragments of skin and bone had been found on the ground near her corpse. Over the objection of defense counsel, the desicated remains of the ear and other fragments of bone and skin were introduced into evidence by the state. Petitioner contends that the introduction of this evidence was needlessly inflammatory and prejudicial, and that the state's actions therefore violate the Supreme Court's mandate in Gardner v. Florida, 430 U.S. 349, 358, 97 S.Ct. 1197, 1204, 51 L.Ed.2d 393 (1977) that any decision to impose the death sentence be, and appear to be, based on reason rather than caprice or emotion. Although we would not wish to endorse the state's practice, this court has already held that the introduction of such evidence is permissible where it depict[s] the scene of the crime, Hance v. Zant, 696 F.2d 940, 951 (11th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 103 S.Ct. 3544, 77 L.Ed.2d 1393 (1983), and we are of course bound by that decision.