Fincham v. State (Majority, with Dissenting)
Annotate this CaseAfter a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of first-degree murder and abuse of a corpse and sentenced to life imprisonment. For his sole argument on appeal, Defendant contended that the circuit court erred in refusing his proffered alternative instruction to the standard instruction on lesser-included offenses, which he alleged would have allowed the jury to consider the lesser charge of extreme-emotional-disturbance manslaughter without first acquitting him of murder. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the circuit court was not without a rational basis for giving the manslaughter instruction and thus erred by not giving the proffered instruction. Remanded.
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