State v. Diaz

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

COLEMAN, J.

The issue raised in this appeal is whether a conviction for possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose should merge with a conviction for passion/provocation manslaughter when the trial court did not instruct the jury with respect to an unlawful purpose that was broader than, and separate from, using the firearm to commit the homicide.

We hold that failure to use a special verdict is not dispositive of the merger issue. Merger is not required when the evidence submitted to the jury is sufficient to permit it to determine that defendant…