People v. Ware

(Court opinion corrected 6/13/19.) Defendant killed a person after an argument; he argued that the man was killed during a struggle for the gun and thus that he cannot be guilty of anything more than involuntary manslaughter. Defendant was convicted, after jury trial, of 1st degree murder. Court did not abuse its discretion in not directly answering the jury's question ("If we are to select the charge of 2nd degree murder, do we still have to consider the additional gun charge or does that only apply to the murder one?"), as the answer to the question was repeatedly and conspicuously expressed in the jury instructions.Even if jurors were confused about firearm enhancement, there is no question that they were confused about what must be proved to support guilty verdict of 1st degree murder as opposed to 2nd degree murder. Court did not abuse its discretion when it declined Defendant's request to introduce the compound and cumulative impeachment by playing a video of witness' police interview. A rational trier of fact could have found that Defendant shot the victim and that his actions were intentional, not reckless. (MIKVA, concurring; WALKER, specially concurring.)