State v. O'Leary

The defendant, Anthony C. O’Leary, appeals his conviction of first degree murder, see RSA 630:l-a (1996), following a jury trial in Superior Court (Mohl, J.). He argues that the trial court erred when it instructed the jury that it could consider provocation manslaughter only after it unanimously acquitted him of first and second degree murder. We affirm.

The jury could have found the following relevant facts. On June 7, 2004, the defendant killed Treasure Genaw by strangling her and stabbing her nine times with a utility knife. The defendant met Genaw approximately eighteen months before the…