Page:BERRY V. STATE.pdf/9

Rh "30 So.2d 434 (1947). Those made during or after an autopsy are most often condemned, Kiefer v. State, 239 Ind. 103, 153 N.E.2d 899 (1958); State v. Bucanis, supra, because they present an even more horrifying sight and show the body in an altered condition and because lay jurors normally do not have the experience necessary to draw correct inferences from the appearance of internal organs. State v. Morris, 245 La. 175, 157 So.2d 728 (1963)."

In Banks, photographs of the deceased's battered head and body were admitted in the murder trial of the defendant, who had beaten him to death with a club. The Tennessee Court of Appeals had reversed, but the Tennessee Supreme Court held that, while there was error, it was not reversible because the record did not affirmatively show that it affected the results of the trial.

Where the state was permitted to introduce fourteen autopsy pictures of the deceased, the Kansas Supreme Court in State v. Boyd, 216 Kan. 373, 532 P.2d 1064 (1975), reversed the trial court and said:

"This court has gone a long way, perhaps too far, in countenancing the introduction of grisly, gruesome photographs Some of the photographs which were admitted could have been helpful to the jury by showing the angle of penetration of the murder instrument into the deceased's body. We fail to see the necessity, however, of the state's offering repetitious exhibits to prove the same point."

A sampling of other cases finding error in the admission of photographs of the deceased includes State v. Morris, 245 La. 475, 157 So.2d 728 (1963) (photographs of the deceased during autopsy had no real evidentiary value and were so shocking and emotionally disturbing as to be inherently prejudicial); People v. Falkner, 389 Mich. 682, 209 N.W.2d 193 (1973) (where appellant relied on alibi defense and there was unrebutted proof of the injuries, photographs of shotgun wound were entered for no other reason than to excite passion and prejudice); State v. Middleton, 339 S.E.2d 692 (S.C. 1986) (any probative value of autopsy photographs was negated by other adequate proof and outweighed by the prejudice they created); State v. Foust, 258