State of New Jersey, Plaintiff-Respondent v. John Short, Defendant-Appellant

Summary

The Supreme Court of New Jersey held that a trial court must instruct the jury on all lesser‑included homicide offenses supported by the evidence without warning that the statute of limitations bars conviction of those offenses; the trial court's instruction that a manslaughter conviction would result in acquittal was error, so the murder conviction was reversed and the case remanded for a new trial. Justice O'Hern, concurring in part and dissenting in part, argued that jurors must be informed of the effect of the statute of limitations and disagreed with the majority's approach.