State v. MacBeth
State v. Macbeth, 2026 UT App 3 (Luthy, J.)
Criminal
The Utah Court of Appeals held:
- The district court provided the jury with an erroneous definition of what it means to act “recklessly” in the context of manslaughter. But, neither the district court’s error nor any alleged deficient performance prejudiced Defendant.
- Practice tip: Even if a jury instruction tracks the language of the relevant statute, it can still be problematic if the statute contains multiple definitions, only one of which applied to the crime at issue.