Com. v. Cary

KOONTZ, Justice.

In an unpublished opinion, the Court of Appeals of Virginia vacated Rebecca Scarlett Cary's convictions in a jury trial for the first-degree murder of Mark Beekman, Code § 18.2-32, and the use of a firearm in the commission of that crime, Code § 18.2-53.1. The Court of Appeals reversed the convictions on the ground that the trial court erred in excluding evidence of Beekman's prior threats and acts of violence against Cary and in failing to grant her proffered jury instructions on self-defense, right-to-arm, and voluntary manslaughter based upon a "heat of passion" theory.…