Utah Court of Appeals hears challenge to jury instructions in Carl Johnson manslaughter conviction

Appellate arguments in State v. Carl Johnson focused on whether the trial court's jury instructions misled jurors about "perfect" versus "imperfect" self-defense and whether those instructions, together with defense counsel's trial strategy, prejudiced the defendant.

The issue matters because, the appellant argued, the instructions and verdict forms could have led jurors to conclude that if the state failed to disprove self-defense as to murder, "the defendant may only be convicted of manslaughter," effectively removing acquittal as an option for lesser charges. Appellant counsel said that ambiguity likely affected at least one juror and therefore undermined confidence in the verdict.

Appellant's counsel (identified in the transcript as defense counsel) told the three-judge panel that evidence at trial supported a full justificatory self-defense instruction. Counsel described trial testimony placing the shooting within about a minute of the…