State v. Johnson

The defendant has appealed from his conviction of murder in the second degree. He has abandoned his claim that the verdict should have been set aside. The only assignment of error requiring extended discussion is his claim, made in various ways, that the court failed to instruct the jury correctly on the difference between murder and manslaughter and, specifically, on the effect of the defendant’s claimed intoxication on the element of implied malice.

The state offered evidence to prove and claimed to have proved the following facts: The defendant, at the invitation of James Navitsky, the…