State v. Ordway

Kim Ordway (defendant), who had a history of psychological disorders, killed both parents, later found in Kansas and in the trunk of Ordway's car in New York, and claimed at trial that the killings stemmed from an honest but unreasonable belief that the parents would harm Ordway's children. No evidence supported that belief as reasonable, and the trial court refused to instruct on voluntary manslaughter under the state's self-defense-manslaughter statute, instructing only on first- and second-degree murder; the jury convicted on second-degree murder for both deaths.