Rhode Island v. Diaz
Annotate this CaseDefendant Juan Diaz appealed his conviction on second-degree murder and one count of using a firearm while committing a crime of violence. On appeal, Defendant argued that the trial justice erred in failing to grant his motion for a judgment of acquittal on the second-degree murder charge because the state failed to provide legally sufficient evidence for a jury to find that he acted with malice in connection with the death of the victim. Furthermore, Defendant argued that the trial justice erred in omitting the phrase "criminal negligence" from his instruction to the jury concerning involuntary manslaughter and instead used "confusing language," which made it difficult for the jury to distinguish the crime of involuntary manslaughter from the crime of murder in the second degree. Upon review, the Supreme Court found that "in order to have properly weighed the charges brought against the defendant, it was crucially important that the jury in this case receive an involuntary manslaughter instruction that included the concept of criminal negligence, thereby creating a distinct and separate charge from that which was given for murder in the second degree." The Court held that the trial justice erred in declining to include that concept in his instruction on involuntary manslaughter. Accordingly, the Court vacated Defendant's judgment of conviction.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.