State v. Matthews

Defendant, charged with first-degree murder and found guilty by a district court jury of the lesser included offense of second-degree murder, contends on this appeal that (1-2) the trial court prejudicially erred in refusing to admit certain evidence concerning past acts of violence by the victim allegedly relevant to the issue of defendant’s state of mind at the time of the killing and expert testimony concerning defendant’s motivation for the killing, and (3) the prosecutor made a prejudicially improper closing argument. We hold that although error was committed, a new trial is not…