Opinion
No. 19-KK-1116
07-06-2019
STATE OF LOUISIANA v. MATTHEW NAQUIN
ON SUPERVISORY WRITS TO THE NINETEENTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT, PARISH OF EAST BATON ROUGE
Writ granted. For the reasons assigned in Judge Welch's concurrence in part and dissent in part, the court of appeal's ruling is reversed insofar as it disallowed evidence of the victim's substance use in the month prior to his death. That evidence is relevant to the question of the defendant's guilt, and prohibiting the admission of such evidence will unconstitutionally abridge the defendant's right to present a defense. See U.S. Const. Amend. XIV, §1; Chambers v. Mississippi, 93 S.Ct. 1038, 410 U.S. 284, 35 L.Ed.2d. 297 (1973). The jury may consider this evidence with appropriate limiting instructions from the trial court. The court of appeal's ruling is otherwise affirmed.