Criminal Law Keyed to Dressler
State v. Utter
ProfessorScott Caron
CaseCast™ – "What you need to know"
Facts
The Defendant and his son had been living together at the time of the killing. The son entered his father’s apartment on the date in question, and shortly thereafter, he was heard to say, “Dad, don’t.” He was later seen stumbling into the hallway of the apartment building, and before he died, he said, “Dad stabbed me.” The Defendant had served in the armed forces and was honorably discharged. He testified that on the date in question, he began drinking in the morning. The Defendant remembers drinking with a friend of his and waking up in jail, but he does not remember anything in between. At trial, the Defendant sought to introduce evidence of “conditioned response,” which his expert defined as an act done automatically in response to a certain stimulus. The trial court ruled that this was no defense and instructed the jury to disregard the evidence. The jury convicted the Defendant of manslaughter, and he appealed to the court rendering this opinion, the Court of Appeals of W ashington.
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