State v. Jeffries

REYNOLDSON, Chief Justice.

Defendant appeals from his conviction of murder in the first degree by presenting two issues: (1) whether jury instruction number 28 was an unconstitutional trial court comment on the evidence, and (2) whether jury instruction number 12, which allowed the jury to infer malice from a wrongful assault with a deadly weapon, was unconstitutional because it shifted the burden of proof to defendant. We affirm.

I. Instruction 28, relating to the defense of justification, was submitted in the following form:

If you find from the evidence that on or prior to the 22nd day of…