Where a defendant challenged his conviction for assault in the first degree, the trial court erred in refusing to instruct the jury on second-degree assault based on sudden passion because the instruction was supported by the evidence, so the cause ...

Tagged with: Assault jury instructions Sudden Passion

Defendant appealed from the jury verdict entered against it in the medical-malpractice, wrongful-death case filed by plaintiffs after decedent, an admitted high-risk candidate for surgery, died from complications following surgery. On appeal, defendant argued that the trial court erroneously charged ...

Tagged with: jury instructions medical malpractice

Where a defendant convicted of first-degree murder after a joint trial with a co-defendant challenged his death sentence, including the aggravating and mitigating factors considered by the jury and the instructions received, the defendant did not show that the district ...

Tagged with: Death Sentence First-Degree Murder jury instructions

Where plaintiff employee challenged a jury verdict against her on her action for damages on claims of disability discrimination and retaliation under the Missouri Human Rights Act, the evidence did not establish that the employer regarded the employee as  having ...

Tagged with: disability discrimination jury instructions MHRA

Defendant appealed from his conviction for attempted enticement of a child, after he attempted to persuade a 14-year-old to engage in sexual conduct. At trial, defendant unsuccessfully sought to elicit testimony from the victim’s sister about the victim’s tendency to ...

Tagged with: Attempted Enticement of a Child jury instructions

Defendant appealed from his conviction on four counts of statutory sodomy involving two victims. On appeal, defendant challenged the exclusion of a DSS employee’s testimony from evidence and also challenged the jury instructions on the verdict director for two of ...

Tagged with: jury instructions statutory sodomy

Where a former locomotive engineer claimed that the railroad was negligent for providing loose cab seats that failed to protect him from excessive shock and jarring, which resulted in significant back injuries, the trial court’s refusal to give a proffered ...

Tagged with: FELA jury instructions Negligence Per Se

Where a plaintiff who suffered an eye injury while working for his railway employer challenged an adverse verdict on retaliation claims brought under the Federal Railroad Safety Act, the jury instructions misstated the “honestly held belief” defense in the context ...

Tagged with: FRSA jury instructions Retaliation

Where a defendant challenged his conviction and sentence on charges including assault in the first degree, the victim’s pre-trial identification of the defendant from a photo lineup was not unduly suggestive, and the admission of a firearm found in a ...

Tagged with: Admission of Gun jury instructions Pre-Trial Lineup

For the second time, a panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has sent a railroad employment case back to a U.S. district court because of faulty jury instructions. Referred to by plaintiff Edward Blackorby in his appeals ...

Tagged with: 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals BNSF Federal Railroad Safety Act jury instructions

The Missouri Supreme Court on July 16 issued a unanimous ruling designed to put an end to the “tortured history” of an “inconsistency in the law” regarding jury instructions. The focus of the high court was the principle, enshrined into ...

Tagged with: jury instructions Missouri Supreme Court