Watson v. State
Alaska Court of Appeals
No. A-7878, 2002 Alas. App. LEXIS 97 (2002)
- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
George Watson (defendant) was charged with stealing from a Walmart store. The prosecution (plaintiff) claimed that Watson had conspired with a second perpetrator to walk out of the store with high-value items like as if he had bought them. Nancy Jenski worked for the Walmart store. From the store’s security cameras, Jenski had noticed the other perpetrator acting suspiciously. When Watson walked out of the store with the items, he was arrested, but the other perpetrator was not immediately identified or caught. Prior to Watson’s trial, however, Jenski identified Christopher Stetson as the other perpetrator by using a photograph. Stetson was a friend of Watson’s. Watson was convicted, and he appealed. On appeal, Watson argued that the trial court should not have relied on Jenski’s photograph identification of Stetson because the security footage from the store provided the best -evidence of his identity.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Coats, C.J.)
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