State v. Hedstrom

Dane L. Hedstrom appeals from a judgment of conviction for first-degree murder. His appeal was based solely on the trial court’s jury instruction on voluntary intoxication. First, he argues that the trial court’s instruction improperly shifted the burden of proof to the defendant to establish his intoxication. Second, the trial court’s instruction added the adverb “utterly” to modify the adjective in the phrase “incapable of forming . . . the intent to kill . . . .” The defendant claims that the word “utterly” established degrees of intoxication and increased the degree of intoxication…