State v. Johnson

OPINION

ECKERSTROM, Presiding Judge.

¶ 1 Appellant James Johnson was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to an aggravated, twenty-two-year prison term. In this appeal, he raises numerous assignments of error regarding his sentencing proceedings. For the following reasons, we vacate his sentence and the jury’s findings that the offense was committed in an especially cruel, heinous, or depraved manner, and remand the case to the trial court for further proceedings.

Factual and Procedural Background

¶2 Johnson was convicted after a bench trial of the second-degree murder of his former…