State v. Ovitt

¶ 1. The State charged defendant Jamie Ovitt with first-degree murder for the killing and subsequent burial of his mother’s ex-husband, Duane Perry. A jury convicted defendant of the lesser-included charge of second-degree murder, which carries a statutory presumptive sentence of twenty years to life. 13 V.S.A. § 2303(b). At trial, the court excluded evidence of a prior incident offered in support of defendant’s claim that the homicide was justified because he acted in self-defense. At sentencing, the trial court found that the aggravating and mitigating factors effectively negated each…