State v. Davis
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The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the court of appeals and the district court judgment convicting Defendant of murder in the first degree, holding that a verdict-urging instruction did not improperly coerce the jury verdict.
Specifically, the Supreme Court held (1) a jury instruction that explains reasonable doubt in terms of "hesitate to act" is legally adequate, but because the inclusion of "hesitate to act" language was not legally required in this case the district court did not abuse its discretion by refusing to add the discretionary instruction; and (2) the verdict-urging instruction given in this case lacked content that this Court had previously disapproved of, but the jury was not improperly coerced by the court's verdict-urging instruction.
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