State v. Bolaski, 95 A.3d 460

Defendant Kyle Bolaski was convicted of second-degree murder after a jury trial.
The victim Vincent Tamburello attacked Bolaski with a splitting maul and chased him toward Bolaski’s truck.
Bolaski retrieved a rifle from the truck and shot Tamburello twice, killing him, with disputed post-shot conduct.
Bolaski claimed self-defense; the State argued against it and contested the lesser-included offenses.
Bolaski sought to introduce evidence of Tamburello’s prior mental health history; the court barred the evidence as a motion in limine and sealed related records.
The trial court gave a transition instruction to consider lesser offenses only if second-degree murder proved; the jury convicted Bolaski of second-degree murder; on appeal, issues included the absence of a passion/provocation instruction, evidentiary rulings, and a juror dismissal, with the court reversing and remanding for a new trial.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the jury was properly instructed on absence of passion or provocation for second-degree murder.	Bolaski (State) argued no such absence instruction was required.	Bolaski contends absence of passion/provocation should have been an element of second-degree murder.	Plain error; instruction omission was reversible.
Whether excluding Tamburello’s pre-incident mental-health evidence violated Rule 404/403.	State argued evidence was improper propensity evidence and privileged.	Bolaski argued evidence was relevant to Tamburello’s state of mind and self-defense.	Evidentiary errors require remand for reconsideration; some evidence may be admissible under 404/405 or non-character purposes.
Whether the juror’s dismissal for following the case during grand jury was improper.	State did not address.	Issue preserved but not reached on appeal.	Not reached on appeal; remand may address it.
Whether plain-error review applies given preservation and the trial context.	State urged harmlessness due to self-defense posture.	Errors affected substantial rights and trial fairness.	Plain error established; requires reversal and remand.

State v. Hatcher, 167 Vt. 338 (1997) (requires provocation absence to be part of murder elements when implicated by evidence)
State v. Yoh, 180 Vt. 317 (2006) (plain-error framework; absence of lesser instruction can be reversible)
State v. Boglioli, 190 Vt. 542 (2011) (state of mind evidence; cautions on pretrial rulings; relation to self-defense)
State v. Lambert, 175 Vt. 275 (2003) (plain-error-like assessment where element omission occurred without objection)
State v. Memoli, 189 Vt. 237 (2011) (pretrial rulings; defense strategy limitations when evidence excluded)
State v. Wheelock, 158 Vt. 302 (1992) (self-defense standard; reasonableness of imminent peril; trial court must assess defendant's perception)
Roy v. State, 151 Vt. 17 (1989) (admissibility of victim’s reputational evidence to rebut victim’s aggression for self-defense)
State v. Dreher (illustrative), (not included; placeholder) () ((not applicable))