marvin rice
Marvin Rice, State v. Rice, 573 S.W.3d 53 (Mo. 2019).
Failure to Submit Jury Instruction on Lesser Included Offenses
Marvin Rice was convicted of first-degree murder and second-degree murder in the deaths of his former girlfriend Annette Durham and her boyfriend Steven Strotkamp. The trial court sentenced Mr. Rice to life imprisonment for the second-degree murder of Strotkamp and death for the murder of Annette Durham after the jury deadlocked on the penalty, with as many as 11 jurors voting to spare Mr. Rice’s life. On direct appeal, the court vacated Mr. Rice’s second-degree murder conviction for the death of Strotkamp, finding that the trial court had erred under Missouri law in not submitting Mr. Rice’s proposed jury instructions on second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter because there was evidence from which a jury could find Mr. Rice acted out of sudden passion arising from adequate cause. State v. Rice, 573 S.W.3d 53 (Mo. 2019).
Fifth Amendment Violation, Comment on Failure to Testify
The appellate court also vacated Mr. Rice’s death sentence for the Durham murder, finding that the state impermissibly commented on Mr. Rice’s decision not to testify at trial in violation of Mr. Rice’s Fifth Amendment rights. Id. at 74-76. “A prosecutor vocalizing his desire to question a defendant who had declined to testify at trial has been found to be an impermissible comment about the defendant’s right against self-incrimination.” Id. at 75.
Mr. Rice’s retrial on penalty is scheduled to begin on August 31, 2020; and his retrial on the second-degree murder charge is scheduled to begin on November 30, 2020.