State v. Stepp

Richard Allen "Rick" Stepp was convicted of second-degree murder by a Pierce County jury who also found him to have been armed with a firearm when he committed the crime, thereby invoking the mandatory enhanced punishment provisions of RCW 9.41.025. We reverse the conviction for the reasons set forth herein.

Defendant urges several assignments of error, two of which are meritorious: (1) that certain of the court's instructions to the jury placed improper burdens upon defendant to overcome a presumption of second-degree murder once a homicide was proven, and to prove his defenses of accidental…