Owens v. State

Summary

The Court held that the trial court plainly erred by instructing the jury that guilty verdicts for involuntary manslaughter based on reckless conduct and the predicate intent crimes were mutually exclusive. The error likely caused the jury to choose felony murder instead of a lesser homicide verdict, requiring reversal of both felony-murder convictions, but it did not affect the child-cruelty conviction or aggravated-assault verdict. Because the evidence was constitutionally sufficient, Owens may be retried on felony murder; the child-cruelty sentence was vacated because sentencing depends on the eventual disposition of the felony-murder counts.