State v. McCoy

Defendant appeals from conviction in a jury trial of murder. ORS 163.115. The principal question presented is whether the jury should have been instructed that in order to convict the defendant of murder it must find beyond a reasonable doubt the nonexistence of “extreme emotional disturbance” as defined in ORS 163.125 (1) (b) and (2). We find that such instructions were necessary and that the instructions given so informed the jury.

The essential facts, viewed from the standpoint of what the jury could infer from the evidence, are that defendant was estranged from his wife and knew that she…