State v. Blaine

Summary

The court affirmed the defendant’s conviction for conspiracy to commit robbery in the first degree, rejecting his claim that the jury instructions constituted plain error. Although the court stated that the better practice is to expressly instruct that the defendant specifically intended every element of the planned offense, it held that the charge, read as a whole, adequately required the jury to find an agreement and specific intent concerning the deadly-weapon element. The court concluded that any instructional defect was not sufficiently clear or obvious to warrant reversal.