State v. Delisle

Defendant appeals a jury conviction of second-degree murder. The principal issue is how the jury should be instructed when a lesser-included offense supported by the evidence is barred by the statute of limitations. We conclude that, in such a situation, the defendant should have a choice between foregoing an instruction on the lesser offense or obtaining an instruction informing the jury that, because the passage of time precludes prosecution for the lesser offense, it must acquit the defendant if it determines the evidence would support a conviction for that offense alone. Because the court…