Griffin v. State
Annotate this CaseAfter a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to forty-five years in prison. Defendant appealed, arguing that the trial judge erred in instructing the jury on the lesser included offense of manslaughter to require that to convict for that lesser offense the jury must find that Defendant intended to cause the death of the victim. The Court of Appeal agreed that the jury instruction on manslaughter was erroneous but rejected the claim of fundamental error because Defendant’s sole defense was misidentification, and therefore, Defendant failed to place any of the other elements of the offense in dispute, including the element of intent. The Supreme Court quashed the decision of the Court of Appeal, holding that fundamental error occurred that required a new trial where, because Defendant did not concede the intent by which the homicide was committed, proof on that issue remaining on the State and remained in dispute notwithstanding Defendant’s defense of misidentification.
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