State of Arizona v. Damper
Arizona Court of Appeals
225 P.3d 1148 (2010)
- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
Marcus Damper (defendant) shot and killed his girlfriend, C. The state (plaintiff) charged Damper with second-degree murder. Damper claimed that the shooting was accidental. At trial, the state introduced a text message that C.’s friend B. received from C.’s phone. B. received the message on the morning of the shooting. The text message asked B. to come over because C. and Marcus were fighting. C.’s phone was found next to her body after she was shot. Damper was convicted, and he appealed, arguing that the text message was not properly authenticated because the state did not prove that the text message was actually sent by C. as opposed to someone else using her phone. Damper did not provide any evidence that pointed to anyone other than C. sending the text message.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Johnsen, J.)
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