State v. James

The defendant, Harvey James, Jr., appeals his convictions by jury verdicts of unlawful possession of a firearm, multiple counts of assault in the first degree while armed with a deadly weapon, and kidnapping in the first degree while armed with a deadly weapon. The dispositive issue on appeal is whether trial courts are required to give a separate jury instruction expressly stating that the State must disprove beyond a reasonable doubt diminished capacity because of voluntary intoxication once the defense is raised. We conclude that the "to convict" instruction sufficiently allocates the…