Supreme Court of Vermont, 1997

The Court affirmed Hatcher's second-degree murder conviction, holding that submitting the lesser-included offense after acquitting him of first-degree murder did not violate double jeopardy and that deliberation is not an element of second-degree murder.

The court affirmed nearly all aspects of the divorce judgment but reversed and remanded the parental-rights order because the family court lacked authority to impose joint legal parental rights and responsibilities without the parents' agreement.