State v. Seba
Annotate this CaseDuring a fight, Defendant killed a pregnant bystander and repeatedly shot one man, resulting in the man’s paralysis. A jury convicted Defendant of one count of attempted first-degree murder and two counts of first-degree premeditated murder. The murder charges were based on Alexa’s law, which defines murder to include the killing of an “unborn child.” To prove the intent requirement of the first-degree premeditated murder counts, the State relied on the transferred intent doctrine, arguing that Defendant premeditated the murder of those with whom he had been fighting and his guilt was the same as it would have been had he hit his intended targets. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the evidence was sufficient to support the intent element of both first-degree premeditated murder counts, and the district court did not err in providing the jury with instructions on transferred intent; (2) the district court’s failure to instruct the jury on reckless second-degree murder and reckless involuntary manslaughter was harmless; (3) the remainder of Defendant’s challenges to the instructions given in this case did not warrant a new trial; and (4) the cumulative impact of conceded and assumed instructional errors in this case did not require the reversal of Defendant’s convictions.
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