State v. Bobby Cooksey, 2012 MT 226

Cooksey shot and killed Beardslee on Cooksey’s property after a confrontation involving Beardslee weed-whacking near an easement.
Cooksey was convicted of deliberate homicide in Musselshell County in September 2010 and sentenced to 50 years with time served credit.
Cooksey moved for a new trial alleging juror misconduct and other trial concerns; the district court denied the motion.
The defense sought to admit Paxil drug evidence found in Beardslee’s blood to support a defense of justifiable use of force; the court excluded it for failure to disclose and lack of foundation.
Montana § 45-3-112 requires peace officers to conduct investigations in self-defense cases so as to disclose all evidence that might support the defense; the district court applied this statute to compel disclosure and open evidence, with mixed appellate conclusions.
The prosecution’s closing arguments were challenged as prejudicial, but the court ultimately found no reversible prosecutorial misconduct.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Juror misconduct and new trial denial	Cooksey contends juror misconduct tainted deliberations (church basement).	District court erred in failing to grant new trial for juror-influence issues and misrepresented voir dire.	No abuse of discretion; new trial denial affirmed
Admissibility of Paxil evidence	Paxil in Beardslee’s blood could support justifiable use of force defense.	No disclosure and lack of proper foundation; Paxil testimony was speculative and not proper expert evidence.	Exclusion proper; no abuse of discretion
State duty to investigate self-defense under § 45-3-112	Law enforcement must uncover all evidence that could support self-defense.	Statute imposes no new investigative duty and is not a basis for dismissal; focus on Brady-like disclosure.	Court adopted broad discovery duty under § 45-3-112
Prosecutorial misconduct in closing	Closing remarks prejudiced the defendant and violated fair trial rights.	Any remarks were permissible, cured by court admonitions or lacked plain error.	No reversible prosecutorial misconduct

Kelman v. State, 276 Mont. 253 (Mont. 1996) (internal juror influence not admissible to impeach verdict)
McMahon v. State, 271 Mont. 75 (Mont. 1995) (pretrial admonitions to jurors; impartiality)
State v. Lawlor, 2002 MT 235 (Mont. 2002) (juror influences and admissibility under Rule 606(b))
State v. Dunfee, 2005 MT 147 (Mont. 2005) (abuse of discretion standard for new-trial requests)
State v. Ariegwe, 2007 MT 204 (Mont. 2007) (jury-impartiality standards; abuse-of-discretion review)
State v. Ellison, 2012 MT 50 (Mont. 2012) (Brady-like disclosure obligations in Montana)
State v. Green, 2009 MT 114 (Mont. 2009) (closing argument review; standard of review)
State v. Racz, 2007 MT 244 (Mont. 2007) (plain error review for closing arguments)