State v. Mays

GEER, Judge.

A jury found defendant Kawame Lloyd Mays guilty of first degree murder in a re-trial following the trial court’s declaration of a mistrial. Defendant appeals, arguing that the trial court erred in various respects, including improperly instructing the jury in the first trial that they could not consider the charge of second degree murder unless they had unanimously acquitted defendant of first degree murder, an instruction commonly called an “acquit first” instruction. We agree that the trial court erred in giving an “acquit first” instruction, but hold that defendant has already…