Cite as 290 Ark. 223 (1986)
admissibility is within the sound discretion of the trial court and will not be reversed absent an abuse of that discretion. Hallman v. State, 288 Ark. 448, 706 S.W.2d 381 (1986).
Decisions of this court have permitted broad admission of photographs of murder victims. The fact that photographs are inflammatory is not alone sufficient reason to exclude them. Smith v. State, 282 Ark. 535, 669 S.W.2d 201 (1984); Walton v. State, 279 Ark. 193, 650 S.W.2d 231 (1983). Inflammatory pictures are "admissible in the discretion of the trial judge, if they tend to shed light on any issue or are useful to enable a witness to better describe the objects portrayed or the jury to better understand the testimony, or to corroborate testimony." Perry v. State, 255 Ark. 378, 500 S.W.2d 387 (1973).
We have often held that a photograph is not inadmissible merely because it is cumulative and that the defendant cannot admit the facts portrayed and thereby prevent the state from putting on its proof. Rodgers v. State, 261 Ark. 293, 547 S.W.2d 419 (1977); Cotton v. State, 276 Ark. 282, 634 S.W.2d 127 (1982). "Of course, if a photograph serves no valid purpose and can only result in inflaming the passions of the jury, it is inadmissible." Gruzen v. State, 267 Ark. 380, 591 S.W.2d 342 (1979).
Even the most gruesome photographs have been held admissible to show the nature and location of wounds in order to rebut a defendant's claim of self-defense, Perry, supra; to show premeditation and deliberation, Robinson v. State, 269 Ark. 90, 598 S.W.2d 421 (1980); to show the speed and force of impact of the defendant's car in a manslaughter case, Prunty v. State, 271 Ark. 77, 607 S.W.2d 374 (1980); to show the death was caused under circumstances manifesting an extreme indifference to the value of human life, Gruzen, supra; and to show that the victim had been raped, Williams v. State, 239 Ark. 1109, 396 S.W.2d 834 (1965).
[1] Because of the trial court's carte blanche acceptance of these graphic and repetitive pictures into evidence, it is necessary that we reexamine our position on the admissibility of inflammatory photographs. The analysis should firmly emphasize the need for the trial court to carefully weigh the probative value of the photographs against their prejudicial nature, rather than
