Appeals panel weighs challenge to redacted traffic-stop video, jury instruction and sentence in DUI appeal

An appellate panel heard oral argument over an appeal of a DUI conviction that centers on three issues: whether the trial court prevented the defense from presenting an unredacted videotape of a traffic stop, whether a jury instruction about excluded evidence hampered the defense, and whether the 11 months and 29 days sentence and its manner of service were proper. The court took the matter under advisement at the end of the hearing.

Mister Nesbitt, defense counsel for the appellant, told the panel that the trial court's handling of a heavily redacted video and the judge's instruction telling jurors not to “worry about what I've excluded” deprived his client of the right to present a defense. "My whole trial strategy has been, my defense is, what is the state not showing you?" Nesbitt said, arguing he could not ethically press that argument after the trial judge instructed the jury that excluded material should not be considered.

Alan Groves, representing the state, said the trial court did not exclude the evidence and that the transcript shows the court allowed…