BISMARCK, N.D. – The North Dakota Supreme Court says a date for oral arguments on an appeal of a Grand Forks man’s sentence for murder has been set.
The North Dakota Supreme Court says it’ll hear arguments by both sides in the appeal by Nicholas Narveson on April 2 at 10:45 a.m. in Bismarck.
He was found guilty of murder, terrorizing and reckless endangerment in June of last year. The case was brought after Narveson shot and killed James Jorgenson at Sledsters in Grand Forks. He was subsequently sentenced to 60 years in prison, with a requirement that he serve 40 of the years with the remainder suspended.
Narveon’s appellate attorney, Samuel Gereszek, argues two main points in his appeal.
The first contends that the district court ‘committed obvious reversible error by failing to provide the lesser included offense instructions on Manslaughter and Negligent Homicide once the defense of self-defense was established.’
In his second argument, Gereszek raised that the district court ‘abused its discretion by permitting the jury to view the appellant on video multiple times in an incarcerated facility in jail garb.’
Grand Forks County Assistant States Attorney Heather Misialek, arguing on behalf of the state, stated ‘Narveson failed to request an instruction for a lesser included offense.’
“So, too, should this Court find that the trial court did not commit obvious error by not providing instructions on lesser included offenses to the jury,” she said. “Narveson did not raise the issue of lesser included offenses to the trial court.”
Regarding the argument about the video calls, Misialek said, ‘The mere presentation of the jail call video evidence does not inherently constitute prejudicial error.’
“The probative value of the evidence outweighed any potential prejudice,” she said.
