Peremptory Strikes

In OCCA case No. F-2017-769, Tyrees Dotson appealed his conviction for Murder in the Second Degree. In a published decision, the court decided to affirm Dotson's conviction and sentence. One judge dissented. Tyrees Dotson was found guilty of Murder in the Second Degree after a trial in which he received a sentence of thirty years in prison. The judge ordered that this sentence would start after he completed another sentence he was already serving. During the trial, Dotson raised several issues. First, he argued that it was unfair for the court to allow the jury to hear a witness's earlier testimony instead of having the witness speak during the trial. Dotson thought this hurt his case. However, the court found that the state had tried hard to find the missing witness and was fair in allowing the earlier testimony. Dotson also claimed there were problems with other evidence presented during the trial. He believed that some photos of the victim were too much and could make the jury feel very emotional instead of making a fair decision. The court disagreed and said that the evidence was important to explain the situation. Another issue Dotson raised was that the state unfairly removed some black jurors from the jury. The court looked at this claim and found that the state's reasons for removing those jurors were based on valid, non-racial reasons. Dotson also said that his lawyer did not do a good job defending him, which made it unfair. The court found no evidence that his lawyer's actions harmed his case. Finally, Dotson felt that all the mistakes in the trial added up to make it unfair. However, since the court found no significant errors, they decided that there was also no cumulative error. Overall, the court concluded that Dotson's conviction and sentence were valid and went on to say that a small error in the paperwork needed fixing but did not affect the outcome of the case. Thus, his appeal was turned down.