Ellis v. Ward

ORDER ANSWERING CERTIFIED QUESTION OF LAW

[1 The Honorable David L. Russell, Chief Judge for the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, has certified the following question pursuant to the Revised Uniform Certification of Questions of Law Act, 20 O.S.Supp.1997, §§ 1601-1611:

Does the court's holding in Johnson v. State of Oklahoma, 841 P.2d 595 (Okla. Crim.App.1992), that the use of the conjunctive word "and" rather than the disjunctive word "or" in an instruction defining the M'Naghten test for insanity in a first-degree murder trial constitutes fundamental error…