State v. Hillard
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The Supreme Court reversed in part and affirmed in part Defendant's convictions for premeditated first-degree murder, felony murder (in the alternative), two counts of aggravated kidnapping, aggravated battery, conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, and rape, holding that the State presented insufficient evidence to support Defendant's conviction for conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance.
Specifically, the Supreme Court held (1) Defendant failed to preserve an objection to the district court's limitation of cross-examination of a witness's potential charges or sentences; (2) the district court did not abuse its discretion in limiting cross-examination of another witness; (3) the prosecutor did not misstate the law during closing arguments; (4) there was no error in the jury instructions; (5) the prosecutor did not commit error by describing the proper sequence of consideration of lesser included offenses during closing arguments; (6) Defendant's conviction for conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance was unsupported by the evidence; (7) the district court properly admitted the admission of an audio recording of an individual's torture; and (8) Defendant's prior California crime was properly classified as a person felony.
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