State v. Jacobs

The state appeals a trial court order granting a prisoner’s motion for postcon-viction relief and awarding a new trial on the crime of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. At the original trial, the trial court instructed the jury to make a finding as to whether the defendant possessed a firearm but did not specifically instruct that the jury must find this element beyond a reasonable doubt. The trial court did give the standard instruction requiring the jury to make all findings beyond a reasonable doubt. In his motion for posteonviction relief, the defendant claimed that his…