Allen v. State

Summary

The court held that the trial court erred by refusing to instruct the jury on voluntary manslaughter because evidence that Allen discovered or reasonably inferred his partner's sexual infidelity constituted at least slight evidence of serious provocation. The court further held that the State failed to show that the instructional error was highly unlikely to have affected the verdict, requiring reversal of the malice-murder conviction and related felony-murder verdicts. The remaining convictions were not directly affected, although their merger may need to be reconsidered on remand.