Opinion ID: 1577692
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 55

Heading: Wording of Intentional Murder Instruction

Text: Appellant makes several other claims of error with respect to the wording of the jury instructions, none of which require reversal. The language of the intentional murder instruction was not prejudicial because it required a finding that Appellant killed Bess Horton by cutting her throat with a knife. An identical instruction was approved by this Court in Appellant's first trial. See Fields, 12 S.W.3d at 285 (Except for the failure to include an instruction on second-degree manslaughter, the trial judge's instructions accurately framed the law of the case.). In Commonwealth v. Hager, we provided a specimen instruction that included language that the defendant killed the victim by stabbing him with a knife. 41 S.W.3d 828, 846 (Ky.2001). There was no error.