143 results for 'cat:"Jury" AND cat:"Murder"'.
J. Pinson finds that the trial court properly convicted defendant of murder and a firearm offense. Sufficient evidence was presented to support defendant's convictions for shooting the victim 16 times, including evidence that defendant told his coworkers he hated the victim and fantasized about killing him. The trial court correctly refused to give defendant's requested jury instruction on voluntary manslaughter. The victim's actions in yelling, cursing and threatening to get a gun were not enough to provoke a sudden, irresistible passion in a reasonable person to warrant the injury instruction. Defendant's trial counsel was not deficient for failing to object to testimony from defendant's coworkers. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Supreme Court, Judge: Pinson, Filed On: May 14, 2024, Case #: S24A0405, Categories: Ineffective Assistance, murder, jury Instructions
J. Colvin finds that the trial court properly convicted defendant of murder and aggravated assault. Defendant failed to show that the trial outcome was probably impacted by the inclusion of an option on the verdict form for voluntary manslaughter only after the felony murder count instead of after both murder counts. The trial court correctly instructed the jury with respect to the verdict form after the jury sent a note during deliberations. Although the trial court violated defendant's right to be present and right to counsel during the proceedings by responding to the jury note outside the presence of the parties, the error was harmless. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Supreme Court, Judge: Colvin, Filed On: May 9, 2024, Case #: S24A0094, Categories: murder, jury Instructions
J. Smith finds that while defendant's indictment did not include the word "killed" or "murdered," the language was sufficient to put him on notice that he was being charged for the death of the victim, which allowed him to put forth an adequate defense and allowed the jury to convict him of the lesser-included offense of manslaughter. However, because the jury instructions for defendant's aggravated assault charges included conflicting intent elements of "knowingly" and "recklessly," his due process rights were violated and those convictions must be vacated. Affirmed in part.
Court: Mississippi Court Of Appeals, Judge: Smith, Filed On: May 9, 2024, Case #: 2022-KA-705, Categories: murder, Assault, jury Instructions
J. Ahlers finds that defendant's petition seeking relief from his conviction for murdering a taxi driver was properly dismissed because counsel was not ineffective for declining to challenge the motion to strike a potential juror for having a prior felony conviction. Affirmed.
Court: Iowa Court Of Appeals, Judge: Ahlers, Filed On: May 8, 2024, Case #: 23-0407, Categories: Ineffective Assistance, jury, murder
J. Carr finds that defendant was properly convicted of attempted murder and other charges for threatening and stabbing a man with a knife because defendant failed to bring ineffective assistance claims regarding jury polling to the court's attention at the proper time. Affirmed.
Court: Iowa Court Of Appeals, Judge: Carr, Filed On: May 8, 2024, Case #: 22-2002, Categories: Ineffective Assistance, jury, murder
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J. Emfinger finds the trial court properly denied defendant's motion for a jury instruction on self-defense or the accident doctrine because her testimony clearly established she knowingly struck the victim with her car as she drove in reverse. Defendant initially claimed she was trying to get away from the victim, but admitted at trial she saw her when she "revved" the engine and was going between 20 and 40 miles per hour when the impact occurred; therefore, defendant's statement she "acted in self-defense" was insufficient to warrant a jury instruction. Affirmed.
Court: Mississippi Court Of Appeals, Judge: Emfinger, Filed On: May 7, 2024, Case #: 2023-KA-52, Categories: murder, Self Defense, jury Instructions
J. Fox finds that the lower court properly convicted defendant of murder and assault. Defendant claims that the lower court improperly failed to instruct the jury on a mental illness defense, but defendant did not bring forward any real evidence that showed he met the criteria for such a defense. Affirmed.
Court: Wyoming Supreme Court, Judge: Fox, Filed On: May 2, 2024, Case #: S-23-0154, Categories: murder, Assault, jury Instructions
J. Peterson finds that the trial court improperly convicted defendant of malice murder, felony murder and aggravated assault for hitting the victim with his car after the two argued over whether the victim threw a golf ball at the vehicle. The trial court incorrectly denied defendant's request to instruct the jury on the defense of accident. There was at least some evidence to support the theory that there was no criminal scheme, including evidence that defendant did not intend to hit the victim and rendered immediate aid. The refusal to give the jury instruction could have contributed to the verdict. Defendant may be retried because the evidence was legally sufficient to support his convictions. Reversed.
Court: Georgia Supreme Court, Judge: Peterson, Filed On: April 30, 2024, Case #: S24A0036, Categories: murder, jury Instructions
J. Ellington finds that the trial court properly convicted defendant of murder and cruelty to children. The trial court did not commit any error by allowing the state to repeatedly introduce evidence of the victim's previous head injuries without instructing the jury that the parties had agreed that defendant did not cause those injuries. The trial court correctly instructed the jury on prior difficulties between defendant and the 23-month-old victim. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Supreme Court, Judge: Ellington, Filed On: April 30, 2024, Case #: S24A0139, Categories: murder, Child Victims, jury Instructions
J. Rothschild finds that the trial court improperly gave a deadlocked jury additional guidance on implied malice, resulting in a unanimous decision to convict defendant for second degree murder. Implied malice requires a conscious disregard from human life, not merely a disregard for whether someone is hurt or killed. Reversed.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Rothschild, Filed On: April 29, 2024, Case #: B328209, Categories: murder, jury Instructions
J. Boyle finds the trial court properly denied defendant's motion for a mistrial after the jury was mistakenly given a flash drive not admitted into evidence. Not only did the drive not contain any evidence that defendant engaged in the conduct with which he was charged, but only a single juror looked at one document contained on the drive and he could not recall its contents. Meanwhile, the testimony of a forensic video specialist should have been excluded after he was not properly introduced as an expert witness by the prosecution, but because there was overwhelming evidence of defendant's guilt - including eyewitness testimony that he was the shooter - the error was harmless. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Boyle, Filed On: April 25, 2024, Case #: 2024-Ohio-1579, Categories: jury, murder, Experts
J. Baker finds that the trial court properly convicted defendant of capital murder. Defendant argues that errors in the abstract of the jury charge led to him being harmed, specifically the mention of "intentionality" in the course of determining whether someone has committed capital murder. While the abstract did contain errors, the rest of the abstract greatly outweighs any potential harm those errors could have had on defendant's case. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Baker, Filed On: April 25, 2024, Case #: 03-23-00044-CR, Categories: jury, murder, Robbery
J. Winkler finds the trial court properly granted the prosecution's request to dismiss a black juror during voir dire during defendant's murder trial. Although he was one of only two black individuals on the jury, comments made about flaws in the criminal justice system gave the prosecution a race-neutral justification for the use of a peremptory challenge. Meanwhile, even though the court erroneously admitted a detective's testimony about an interview with the owner of the barber shop where the shooting took place, the error was harmless because the specific evidence about who was in the shop at the time of the murder was established through other witness testimony. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Winkler, Filed On: April 19, 2024, Case #: 2024-Ohio-1491, Categories: Confrontation, jury, murder
J. Savoie finds that defendant was properly convicted for the first-degree murder of his wife, the attempted first-degree murder of his stepdaughter, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Defendant argues that the trial court wrongfully denied his motion for a new trial on the basis that defective jury summonses did not implement Act 121, which allows convicted felons to serve on juries under certain circumstances. Defendant did not timely challenge his jury venire because he did not file a motion to quash before trial, thus waiving his objection. Affirmed.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Savoie, Filed On: April 17, 2024, Case #: KA-23-616, Categories: jury, murder
J. Stevens affirms the trial court’s defendant's guilty plea conviction for murder and jury-imposed life sentence. The trial judge properly denied defendant’s request for a change of venue. He unsuccessfully argued he could not get a fair trial in the small county, citing comments by 95 people on earlier Facebook posts by the parents of the victim. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Judge: Stevens, Filed On: April 12, 2024, Case #: 06-23-142, Categories: jury, murder, Sentencing
J. Baker finds the trial court properly convicted defendant for murder. Defendant was taken into custody after having been identified as a suspect. She was found with the murder weapon, Mirandized and admitted she had been in an argument with the victim because he had allegedly struck her 14-year-old son. Sufficient evidence, including surveillance video and clothing worn by the assailant in the video found at defendant's home, support the conviction. Though it was later found a juror's sister worked for the defense attorney, no evidence shows the juror and attorney knew each other. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Supreme Court, Judge: Baker , Filed On: April 11, 2024, Case #: CR-23-602, Categories: Evidence, jury, murder
J. Goff finds that defendant was improperly convicted of murder because the jury had been given confusing instructions as to which party bore the burden of proof on the self-defense issue, and the instructions were not corrected during trial. Reversed.
Court: Indiana Supreme Court, Judge: Goff, Filed On: April 10, 2024, Case #: 24S-CR-123, Categories: jury, murder, Self Defense
J. Poochigian finds that defendant failed to show that the trial court improperly accepted the state's explanations for its peremptory challenges to three Hispanic jurors in his murder trial. However, his conviction for active gang participation and gang and firearm enhancements to his murder conviction must be reversed under a statute narrowing the definition of gang participation. Reversed in part.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Poochigian, Filed On: March 27, 2024, Case #: F080361, Categories: jury, murder, Gangs
J. Waite finds defendant was not deprived of a fair trial on a murder charge based on the lack of a black individual on the jury panel. The process used to select the pool was entirely random and involved sending 500 summons to residents without any knowledge of their race, while no prospective juror was dismissed because of their race. Meanwhile, the trial court properly allowed two witnesses to testify about injuries to the victim consistent with domestic violence because defendant's claim the injuries were caused by an accident allowed for the use of the "absence, mistake, or accident" exception to prior bad acts evidence. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Waite, Filed On: March 27, 2024, Case #: 2024-Ohio-1543, Categories: Evidence, jury, murder
Per curiam, the appellate division finds that the trial court properly convicted defendant of weapons charges, second-degree murder, and assault related to two shootings because evidence indicated defendant matched the description of the shooter that had been given by witnesses and victims of the first shooting. Meanwhile, defendant failed to properly move to discharge a juror, and the jury was properly allowed to deliberate and have frank discussions of racial bias. Affirmed.
Court: New York Appellate Divisions, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: March 22, 2024, Case #: KA 22-00654, Categories: jury, murder, Weapons
Per curiam, the Minnesota Supreme Court reverses the defendant's first-degree premeditated murder, attempted first-degree premeditated murder, first-degree intentional murder and kidnapping convictions, each premised on aiding-and-abetting theories of liability. While a search warrant application for a search of the defendant's cell phone was sufficiently supported by probable cause, the district court erred in instructing the jury that the defendant "or another (or others)" satisfied each element of each offense. These "hybrid instructions" misstated the law in a way that was not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Reversed.
Court: Minnesota Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: March 20, 2024, Case #: A22-1281, Categories: murder, Accomplice Liability, jury Instructions
J. Bethel finds that the trial court properly convicted defendant of murder and firearm offenses. Any error the trial court committed in giving an incorrect jury instruction on an exception to the justification defense was harmless in light of the evidence showing that defendant more than likely did not act in self-defense when he shot the unarmed victim. Defendant failed to show that his trial counsel performed deficiently. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Supreme Court, Judge: Bethel, Filed On: March 19, 2024, Case #: S24A0396, Categories: murder, jury Instructions
Per curiam, the appellate division finds that the trial court properly granted the petition to prohibit the prosecutor and judge from retrying the man on weapons charges and murder. Prosecutors have not shown that a mistrial was necessary due to a "grossly unqualified" juror, and a decision had not been reached on any of the charges. Affirmed.
Court: New York Appellate Divisions, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: March 15, 2024, Case #: OP 23-01825, Categories: jury, murder, Double Jeopardy
J. Hardin-Tammons finds that the lower court properly convicted defendant of murder. The evidence was sufficient to establish the deliberation necessary to find him guilty of murder in the first degree, and the court did not err in denying his request to submit a voluntary manslaughter instruction to the jury. Affirmed.
Court: Missouri Court Of Appeals, Judge: Hardin-Tammons, Filed On: March 12, 2024, Case #: ED111336, Categories: jury, murder
J. Soto finds a lower court did not err in convicting defendant for murder. Defendant raised a number of issues with his conviction, including arguing a lower court had improperly negated his sudden-passion claim that he had “snapped” and killed the victim because she rejected him, but while the record does indeed show that defendant was both “jealous and possessive,” courts have long held that “a rejection of a romantic proposal does not qualify as adequate cause for purposes of the sudden passion defense,” not least because a person of “ordinary temper” does not murder people based on romantic rejections. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Soto, Filed On: February 29, 2024, Case #: 08-22-00177-CR, Categories: Evidence, murder, jury Instructions
[Consolidated.] J. Hunter vacates defendant's conviction for being a principal to second degree murder because it was rendered by a non-unanimous jury. However, defendant's conviction for conspiracy to commit second degree murder was proper because a witness testified that defendant was present when the murder took place, that defendant shook hands with the person who shot the victim, and that defendant led the police to the victim's body. Vacated in part.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Hunter, Filed On: February 28, 2024, Case #: 55,497-KA, Categories: Evidence, jury, murder
J. Kemp finds the trial court properly convicted defendant for two counts of first-degree murder. Officers responded to a call by a victim's son when he discovered his mother and defendant's father dead from gunshot wounds. The father's body appeared to officers to be posed with a gun in its hand, though it was later confirmed he had been shot six times by that very gun. Furthermore, the trial court properly rejected proffered instructions on justification and kidnapping because there was no evidence defendant reasonably believed the victims were about to commit a felony with force or violence, or that his life was in imminent danger. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Supreme Court, Judge: Kemp , Filed On: February 22, 2024, Case #: CR-23-486, Categories: Evidence, murder, jury Instructions