State v. Ramirez

David Patrick Ramirez (defendant) had previously threatened another man, David, with a gun after finding him visiting Ramirez's girlfriend. A month later, Ramirez encountered David's brother, who resembled David, shook his hand, then suddenly drew a gun and shot and killed him, pausing briefly between the second and third shots. At trial, the sole disputed issue was premeditation; Arizona law defined premeditation as requiring a length of time to permit reflection, but the jury instruction described that period as potentially "as instantaneous as successive thoughts in the mind." The jury convicted Ramirez of first-degree murder, and he appealed, arguing the instruction improperly lowered the State's burden on premeditation.