Matthew W. Nichols, Appellant v. State of Arkansas, Appellee

Summary

The court affirmed Nichols's capital-murder conviction and life-without-parole sentence, holding that the circuit court properly refused to replace the standard transition instruction with Nichols's proposed individualized version. Viewed in the context of the instructions as a whole, the standard instruction was a correct and unambiguous statement of the law, and the court therefore found no abuse of discretion. The court also found no prejudicial error in its required review of adverse rulings.