State of West Virginia v. Donald Sidney Bailey, 16-0740

In October 2014 two men (Mullins and Church) were found shot and burned in a pickup truck; five spent shell casings were recovered at the scene.
Police stopped a blue van carrying Donald Bailey, his wife Sheila, and others; statements implicated Bailey and Troy Justice in shooting the victims and later setting the truck on fire.
Bailey gave recorded statements admitting he fired a gun toward the truck after seeing a perceived gun and later returned with others when the truck was set on fire.
At trial the State presented medical examiner testimony establishing gunshot wounds as cause of death and introduced post-mortem photographs.
Bailey presented intoxication/diminished-capacity and self-defense theories and testified; a defense expert testified Bailey lacked capacity for intent due to intoxication.
A jury convicted Bailey of two counts of first-degree murder, third-degree arson, and felony conspiracy; the circuit court denied post-trial relief and imposed consecutive sentences including two life terms without parole.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether prosecutor's use of the word “murder” required mistrial	Use was foundational — referred to the type of investigation (an alleged murder); not intended to assert guilt	Use violated pretrial order to avoid the word “murder” and prejudiced jury	No abuse of discretion; phrase “alleged murder” was foundational and did not violate order
Admissibility of post-mortem/gruesome photographs (Rule 403)	Photos were probative to cause of death, identification, position in truck, and rebuttal to defendant’s claim he shot at the floor	Photographs were repugnant/gruesome and likely unfairly prejudiced the jury against Bailey	Trial court conducted Rule 401/403 balancing, excluded some photos, and did not abuse broad discretion in admitting contested photos
Jury misconduct based on short deliberation (~29 minutes)	Not applicable (State) — verdict stands absent extrinsic misconduct	Short deliberation shows jury could not have considered defenses fully; suggests misconduct	Rejected as intrinsic challenge; length of deliberation alone is not grounds to impeach verdict
Cumulative error claim	Not applicable (State) — no cumulative prejudice	Multiple trial errors cumulatively deprived Bailey of fair trial	No cumulative error because no individual errors were found

State v. Vance, 207 W. Va. 640, 535 S.E.2d 484 (sets standard of review for circuit court rulings)
State v. Thornton, 228 W. Va. 449, 720 S.E.2d 572 (mistrial review — abuse of discretion standard)
State v. Greenfield, 237 W. Va. 773, 791 S.E.2d 403 (admissibility of photographs over gruesome objection)
State v. Derr, 192 W. Va. 165, 451 S.E.2d 731 (Rule 401/403 balancing for photographic evidence)
State v. Jenner, 236 W. Va. 406, 780 S.E.2d 762 (length of jury deliberations is an intrinsic matter)
State v. Knuckles, 196 W. Va. 416, 473 S.E.2d 131 (cumulative-error analysis requires multiple proven errors)