Opinion ID: 1302067
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: State v. Cook

Text: Lee Cook shot and killed Troy Robinson. Cook had been robbed at gunpoint by Robinson during the course of a drug transaction, and Cook argued that his subsequent shooting of Robinson was in self-defense. Cook was thereafter charged in Pierce County Superior Court with first degree murder and unlawful possession of a short firearm. [1] Cook proposed, and the trial court gave, self-defense instructions nearly identical to the two given in Studd above. Cook was convicted of second degree murder and appealed. The Court of Appeals, Division Two, affirmed Cook's conviction in an unpublished opinion. State v. Cook, No. 19020-6-II, slip op., 1997 WL 404059 (Wash.Ct.App. July 18, 1997). It held that the two self-defense instructions are complementary, not contradictory and that read together, these instructions make the relevant legal standard manifestly apparent to the average juror. Cook, slip op. at 5. The Court of Appeals further held that Cook had also invited the trial court to give the flawed instruction. Cook, slip op. at 6. Cook sought review, which we granted.