State v. Merideth

Defendant was convicted, in a consolidated trial, 1 of three counts each of aggravated murder, ORS 163.095, felony-murder, ORS 163.115, manslaughter in the first degree, ORS 163.118, and arson in the first degree. ORS 164.325. 2 Those convictions stem from a single incident in 1994, in which defendant started a fire in the unoccupied first floor of a two-story duplex. A woman and her two young children, who lived in the second story, died as a result. Defendant assigns error to the trial court’s refusal to instruct the jury on the lesser included offense of reckless burning. ORS 164.335. 3 He…