81 results for 'cat:"Murder" AND cat:"Jury Instructions"'.
J. Terrell finds the superior court properly convicted defendant of two counts of attempted first-degree murder. “Jury instructions, taken as a whole, informed the jury that the State bore the burden of proving each element beyond a reasonable doubt.” Affirmed.
Court: Alaska Court Of Appeals, Judge: Terrell, Filed On: May 31, 2024, Case #: A-13636, Categories: murder, jury Instructions
J. Peterson finds that the trial court properly convicted defendant of murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime. Sufficient evidence was presented to support defendant's convictions, including evidence that defendant confessed to his estranged father that he shot the victims. The trial court correctly admitted into evidence a notebook found in defendant's truck and pre-incision autopsy photos showing one victim's breast and the location of her wounds. The trial court's failure to give a jury instruction on impeachment of a witness for bias with respect to the father did not amount to clear error. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Supreme Court, Judge: Peterson, Filed On: May 29, 2024, Case #: S24A0478, Categories: Firearms, murder, jury Instructions
J. Peterson finds that the trial court improperly convicted defendant of murder for the beating death of his cousin. The trial court incorrectly denied defendant's request to instruct the jury on voluntary manslaughter. There was at least slight evidence of provocation presented to support the jury instruction, including evidence that defendant reasonably believed the victim had been engaged in an affair with defendant's romantic partner. On the day of the beating, defendant discovered the victim and his partner in a "compromising situation" which led defendant to believe that the partner had been unfaithful. There was some evidence that the victim taunted defendant and video evidence that defendant acted out of a "passionate response" to discovering adultery. The state failed to show that the error probably did not contribute to the verdict. Reversed.
Court: Georgia Supreme Court, Judge: Peterson, Filed On: May 29, 2024, Case #: S24A0171, Categories: murder, Manslaughter, jury Instructions
J. McMillian finds that the trial court properly convicted defendant of murder. The trial court correctly charged the jury on excessive force and gave the full suggested pattern jury instructions on self-defense. Defendant stabbed the victim approximately 20 times and gave conflicting accounts of the stabbing. In light of the strong evidence of his guilt, defendant failed to show that he was prejudiced by his trial counsel's failure to object to evidence of the victim's good character. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Supreme Court, Judge: McMillian, Filed On: May 29, 2024, Case #: S24A0445, Categories: Ineffective Assistance, murder, jury Instructions
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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. Holloway finds the trial court properly convicted the defendant of premeditated murder. The defendant alleged the evidence was insufficient, requested a new trial, and claimed the jury was not instructed properly. The court upholds the conviction because the evidence supported it, and the court sees no evidence that the jury was improperly instructed. Affirmed.
Court: Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals, Judge: Holloway, Filed On: May 14, 2024, Case #: E2022-01392-CCA-R3-CD, Categories: Evidence, 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. 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
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
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
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
J. Hardin-Tammons finds that the lower court properly found defendant guilty of murder and armed criminal action. The state presented sufficient evidence to prove he intended to shoot the victim given that her death was caused by a close-range shot to the head. Further, the court did not plainly err by not instructing the jury on the lesser included offense of involuntary manslaughter. Affirmed.
Court: Missouri Court Of Appeals, Judge: Hardin-Tammons, Filed On: February 20, 2024, Case #: ED111322, Categories: Intent, murder, jury Instructions
J. Herndon finds the trial court properly convicted defendant for first-degree murder with a deadly weapon. Surveillance video shows defendant stabbed the victim in the neck on a Las Vegas street. Defendant fails to support his argument the victim threatened him with a gun, and an emotional outburst by the victim's family during a viewing of the video is no basis for mistrial or curative instruction. Affirmed.
Court: Nevada Supreme Court, Judge: Herndon , Filed On: February 15, 2024, Case #: 86208, Categories: Evidence, murder, jury Instructions
J. Moore reverses the defendant's convictions for first-degree premeditated murder, attempted first-degree premeditated murder, first-degree felony murder while committing a kidnapping and kidnapping to commit great bodily harm or terrorize, but remands her case for further proceedings on the kidnapping and felony murder charges. The state has provided evidence sufficient to support a reasonable inference that the defendant knew that a fake house showing she set up with the murder victim, a realtor, on behalf of her romantic partner and his friends was a setup for a kidnapping and murder plot, but the circumstances proved also support a reasonable inference that she believed the end goal of her partner's plan was a less serious crime than premeditated murder. The circumstantial evidence used to support her convictions, therefore, was insufficient to sustain her convictions for first-degree premeditated murder and attempted first-degree premeditated murder under an aiding-and-abetting theory of liability. Additionally, the district court issued impermissible hybrid jury instructions, combining accomplice liability and the underlying elements into a single instruction which misstated the law by allowing the jury to convict the defendant of kidnapping without reaching the issue of liability under an aiding-and-abetting theory. These erroneous instructions were also not harmless. The defendant's other arguments regarding jury instructions and sufficiency of evidence fail. Reversed.
Court: Minnesota Supreme Court, Judge: Moore, Filed On: January 31, 2024, Case #: A22-0163, Categories: murder, Kidnapping, jury Instructions
J. Freyre finds the failure by the trial court to include a complicity instruction during defendant's trial on a murder charge constituted a structural error. While the jury found him guilty of second-degree murder, it found he did not use a deadly weapon, which is entirely inconsistent with the state's theory of the case that defendant was the shooter. Therefore, the state failed to prove every element of the murder charge and defendant's conviction must be vacated.
Court: Colorado Court Of Appeals, Judge: Freyre, Filed On: December 21, 2023, Case #: 2023COA121, Categories: murder, jury Instructions
J. Boggs finds that the trial court properly convicted defendant of murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. Defendant failed to show that his substantial rights were affected by the trial court's failure to give the jury an instruction on no duty to retreat. The trial court correctly gave the jury a sequential unanimity instruction on involuntary manslaughter as a lesser offense of murder. Defendant failed to show that he was prejudiced by his trial counsel's alleged deficiencies. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Supreme Court, Judge: Boggs, Filed On: December 19, 2023, Case #: S23A0906, Categories: Ineffective Assistance, murder, jury Instructions
J. Pinson finds that the trial court properly convicted defendant of murder. Sufficient evidence was presented to support defendant's convictions and to allow the jury to reject defendant's theory of self-defense. The trial court correctly instructed the jury on simple assault and defendant failed to show that the trial court committed any error in failing to charge the jury on the lesser offenses of felony or misdemeanor involuntary manslaughter. Defendant failed to show that his trial counsel's performance was deficient. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Supreme Court, Judge: Pinson, Filed On: December 19, 2023, Case #: S23A0802, Categories: Ineffective Assistance, murder, jury Instructions