17 results for 'cat:"Firearms" AND cat:"Jury Instructions"'.
J. Wilkinson finds the lower court properly convicted the defendant of various crimes related to drug trafficking, including two counts of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. While executing a search warrant of the defendant's apartment, police found a noteworthy collection of drugs and drug paraphernalia: copious quantities of heroin, cocaine and marijuana, in addition to packaging supplies, cutting materials, scales, sifters and blending equipment to go along with six firearms. The defendant disputes a section of jury instructions on the firearm charges, claiming the instruction that he is guilty of using the gun in furtherance if the distribution of drugs and the common sense recognition that drug dealing is a dangerous and violent enterprise may support an inference that the defendant’s possession of a firearm was to facilitate drug dealing. There is no false legal premise in these instructions as the jurors were told that the dangerous and violent nature of drug dealing was “a common sense recognition.” But the jurors were then advised that the province of common sense was fully their own. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Wilkinson, Filed On: April 10, 2024, Case #: 23-4222, Categories: Drug Offender, firearms, jury Instructions
J. Bacon finds the trial court properly denied defendant's request for a provocation jury instruction because the driver of the other vehicle involved in the shooting was not the victim, and even if he had been, erratic driving is insufficient to require such an instruction. Furthermore, although defendant had been threatened by the driver of the other vehicle and knew he had guns, there was a vehicle in between the two and no shots had been fired at the time defendant opened fire, all of which prevented the issue of a self-defense instruction. Affirmed.
Court: New Mexico Supreme Court, Judge: Bacon, Filed On: December 4, 2023, Case #: S-1-SC-39211, Categories: firearms, Murder, jury Instructions
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J. Halligan finds that defendant was improperly convicted of possession of a weapon based on evidence discovered in a vehicle inventory search after defendant was arrested during a traffic stop because he was prejudiced by the introduction of defendant's prior run-ins with police over weapons possession. Defendant failed to preserve his challenge to the conviction entered under a New York law criminalizing unlicensed possession of a firearm outside his home or business because he failed to raise the issue in the trial or appellate courts. Reversed.
Court: New York Court Of Appeals, Judge: Halligan, Filed On: November 21, 2023, Case #: 62, Categories: firearms, Search, jury Instructions
[Consolidated.] J. Stiles finds that defendant was properly convicted and sentenced for murder and firearm possession stemming from a fatal shooting at a party. Defendant sought a mistrial based on a juror's alleged violation of a ban on research, but the juror had "simply researched the role of juries and courts" and not the case at issue. Affirmed.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Stiles, Filed On: November 2, 2023, Case #: KA-23-189, Categories: firearms, Murder, jury Instructions
J. Gaziano determines Massachusetts is correct that it should be able to retry a defendant for unlawfully carrying a firearm, unlawfully
carrying a loaded firearm and unlawfully carrying ammunition. Defendant was convicted of those charges previously, but the convictions were later vacated because the jury was not informed that convicting the defendant for those crimes required finding that he hadn’t had a firearms license when committing them. The constitutional rule establishing that lack of licensure is an essential part of those crimes wasn’t established until after the defendant was convicted.
Court: Massachusetts Supreme Court, Judge: Gaziano, Filed On: October 26, 2023, Case #: SJC-13315, Categories: firearms, Double Jeopardy, jury Instructions
J. Duhart finds the trial court properly denied defendant's motion for a self-defense jury instruction on the assault charge related to three warning shots fired after he initially shot the victim in the chest. Evidence indicates any danger had passed after the first shot struck the victim and the confrontation was effectively over. Defendant had started walking to his vehicle at the time he fired the warning shots, which clearly indicated he was not in fear for his life and intended to leave the scene. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Duhart, Filed On: September 29, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-3543, Categories: firearms, Assault, jury Instructions
J. Hess finds the trial court properly denied defendant's request for a jury instruction on the lesser-included offense of negligent assault. Evidence in the record, including eyewitness testimony from several individuals, proved he fired more than one shot at the party and intentionally aimed his gun at the victim, which supported only a felonious assault charge and conviction. Meanwhile, even though several of the witnesses were intoxicated at the time of the crime, the jury was in the best position to determine their credibility, while video evidence also showed defendant with a gun immediately before the shooting. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Hess, Filed On: September 25, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-3434, Categories: firearms, Assault, jury Instructions
J. Dillard finds that the trial court properly convicted defendant of voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault and a firearm offense. Sufficient evidence was presented to support defendant's convictions. The trial court did not commit any error by instructing the jury on voluntary manslaughter as a result of mutual combat or by refusing to instruct the jury on involuntary manslaughter as a result of accident or reckless conduct. There was evidence that defendant and a third party fired guns at each other, supporting the mutual combat instruction. There is no evidence defendant's gun discharged accidentally or that his actions were merely reckless. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Court of Appeals, Judge: Dillard, Filed On: September 19, 2023, Case #: A23A1077, Categories: firearms, Manslaughter, jury Instructions
[Consolidated] J. Horton finds the trial court properly convicted defendant for assault and unlawful possession of a firearm stemming from an altercation involving defendant choking his girlfriend, her son stabbing defendant, and defendant stealing a firearm in order to protect himself. Defendant was not harmed by the omission of his defense-of-property theory in the charge. Necessity is a confession and avoidance defense, which requires admitting to the conduct before benefitting from instructions on a necessity claim. The record doesn’t show defendant ever admitted he was in possession of a firearm, and so the court did not err in refusing to charge the jury on his necessity defense. Affirmed.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Horton , Filed On: September 13, 2023, Case #: 09-21-00346-CR, Categories: firearms, Assault, jury Instructions
J. Powell finds the trial court properly instructed the jury on defendant's flight from the scene of the crime during his assault of a peace officer and tampering case. Although he claimed his decision to run after shooting the police officer had to do with his weapons disability - not the crimes with which he was charged - it was up to the jury to determine whether his flight was evidence of his consciousness of guilt. Meanwhile, the trial court properly denied defendant's motion for a new trial based on comments made by the prosecution during closing arguments because the attorney's recitation of the standard for recklessness was correct and did not mislead the jury. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Powell, Filed On: August 14, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-2817, Categories: firearms, Assault, jury Instructions
J. McCarty finds the lower court properly convicted defendant of attempted murder and possession of a firearm by a felon for shooting a man twice after a confrontation in a parking lot. Defendant was sentenced to 20 years for attempted murder, and 10 years for the firearms charge, to be served consecutively. Despite defendant's argument, the jury was properly instructed, and the instant court finds no fault in the lower court’s determination Affirmed.
Court: Mississippi Court Of Appeals, Judge: McCarty, Filed On: August 8, 2023, Case #: 2022-KA-00398-COA, Categories: firearms, Murder, jury Instructions
J. Raker agrees with the lower court’s decision that the jury should not have received voluntariness instructions in a trial where the court convicted a gun owner of murder. The gun owner, seen shooting a man on a closed circuit camera at a business, was positively identified and all other evidence supports this identification. There was also no evidence that the gun owner had been coerced by police into a false confession. Affirmed.
Court: The Appellate Court of Maryland, Judge: Raker, Filed On: July 7, 2023, Case #: 119248020, Categories: firearms, Murder, jury Instructions
J. Schutz finds that the trial court properly denied defendant's claims that two jurors were stricken from his felony menacing trial due to race. Also, he was not entitled to have jurors questioned about their race and ethnicity or given an implicit bias instruction. Evidence that a victim of the menacing was a drug dealer was properly excluded as improper character evidence. Affirmed.
Court: Colorado Court Of Appeals, Judge: Schutz, Filed On: June 1, 2023, Case #: 20CA2145, Categories: firearms, jury Instructions