New Hampshire v. Soto
Annotate this CaseDefendant Michael Soto appealed his conviction for being an accomplice to first degree murder. Defendant's conviction arose out of the fatal shooting of Aaron Kay in 2007. A man named Bill threatened Roney White's young cousins with a knife at a 7-Eleven store close to Roney's home. In retaliation, Roney tried to run over Bill and his companions with his car. Bill and another person then attacked Roney with a baseball bat. Defendant and his brother Sergio, met up with Roney and several of his companions, smoked marijuana, and settled on a plan to find Roney’s attackers and confront them. After one of the group confirmed that Defendant had brought a gun, the six men set out to find Roney's attackers. A short time later, they found a group of people whom they suspected had been involved in Roney's attack gathered near a dumpster. After driving past the group once or twice, they parked their car around the corner and discussed who would do the shooting. They settled on Roney's cousin as the shooter. Defendant then wiped the gun with his shirt, racked the slide to cock it, and handed it to the would-be shooter who left with a mask on, and shot Kay in the leg and abdomen. The men drove away. Kay later died from his wounds. Defendant argued on appeal that the trial court should have instructed the jury to consider whether the defendant acted under an extreme mental or emotional disturbance caused by extreme provocation, thereby reducing his criminal liability from murder to manslaughter. The Supreme Court "never treated provocation manslaughter ...as a true 'defense' under the Criminal Code ...and we decline to do so today." The Court concluded that the undisputed facts culminating in Kar’s death revealed "no evidence upon which a provocation instruction was warranted." The Court concluded the trial court did not err in its instructions to the jury, and upheld Defendant's conviction.
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