State v. Trice
Annotate this CaseAfter a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of second degree murder. Defendant appealed, challenging the district court's step instruction to the jury regarding second degree murder and manslaughter. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the district court plainly erred in giving the instruction, as (1) although the instruction was correct when it was given, the Court's subsequent holding in State v. Smith rendered the instruction an incorrect statement of the law; (2) Smith applied retroactively to this case; and (3) there was evidence upon which a jury could conclude that the killing was intentional but provoked by a sudden quarrel and therefore constituted manslaughter.
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