State v. J. Lackman

¶1 A Silver Bow County jury convicted Jeffrey Lackman of deliberate homicide after he shot Mark Partelow, an acquaintance, in the head following a brief fight in Butte, Montana. Lackman raises three issues on appeal, which we restate as follows:

1. Whether the District Court abused its discretion in instructing the jury on Lackman’s justifiable use of force defense.

2. Whether the prosecutor’s comments regarding Lackman’s failure to tell police his self-defense story constitute plain error.

3. Whether the prosecutor’s misstatement of the legal elements for justified use of lethal force…