State v. Nelson

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Biles, J.:

Jeffeiy Dale Nelson appeals his convictions of premeditated first-degree murder, burglary, and three counts of forgery. These crimes arose from the death of Nelson’s stepfather, Stanley Swartz, who Nelson admitted striking repeatedly in the head with a baseball bat. Nelson claims four errors: (1) The district court failed to give an imperfect self-defense jury instruction; (2) the instructions on first-degree murder were improper because they lessened the State’s burden of proof; (3) the district court failed to comply with K.S.A. 60-455 in…