Court Opinion

ID: 9781385
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-30 16:35:59.469153+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:34:25.966081
License: Public Domain

Justice PLEICONES.
I agree that we should affirm the Court of Appeals’ decision which upheld petitioner’s murder conviction, and agree that there was no error in the refusal to charge accident here. I also agree with the Court of Appeals that any error in Dr. Nichols’s testimony that “suspicious circumstances” surrounding the victim’s death were evidence of a homicide was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt in light of the overwhelming evidence of petitioner’s guilt. State v. Commander, 384 S.C. 66, 681 S.E.2d 31 (Ct.App.2009). I do not join that part of the majority’s opinion that suggests that a forensic pathologist’s testimony regarding the victim’s anecdotal history is always admissible under Rule 702, SCRE, as part of the pathologist’s opinion as to manner and cause of death. I also do not agree that the term “homicide” is necessarily a neutral term which does not imply death resulting from the criminal act of another. See Article 1, “Homicide,” of Chapter 3, “Offenses Against the Person,” found in South Carolina Code Ann. Title 16, “CRIMES AND OFFENSES.”