State v. German

Summary

The court affirmed convictions for second degree murder, kidnapping, and first degree false imprisonment, rejecting challenges to the admission of photographs, the jury instructions, and the kidnapping sentence. It held that any instructional error concerning unintentional manslaughter was nonprejudicial because the jury convicted German of second degree murder, and the murder verdict necessarily foreclosed a safe-release finding for sentencing purposes. The court also rejected or deferred German's ineffective-assistance claims because counsel was not deficient, prejudice could not be shown, the record was insufficient, or the claims lacked the required specificity.