State v. Lastarza

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The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant's conviction of second-degree murder, holding that Defendant waived his argument that the trial justice erred when she failed to instruct the jury on the lesser-included offense of voluntary manslaughter and that the trial justice did not err in refusing to grant a mistrial.Specifically, the Court held (1) Defendant's contention that the trial judge erred in failing to give the jury an instruction on voluntary manslaughter and instead giving an involuntary manslaughter instruction was not properly preserved for appellate review; (2) the trial justice did not err in refusing to declare a mistrial on what Defendant characterized as the prosecutor's "wholly improper" statements made during closing argument because the court's cautionary instruction cured the prejudice created by the prosecutor's comments labeling Defendant as a scam artist, liar, and thief. View "State v. Lastarza" on Justia Law