"Flight" jury instructions should be less frequent after States v. State

The case of Shawn States v. State is one with which I am somewhat, although not greatly, familiar.  In short, Mr. States was convicted by a Hinds County jury of capital murder for the killing of Antoine Reece and Justin Howard and taking credit cards belonging to the men, along with Reece's Jaguar. States was found in Miami with his girlfriend, who was about to be deployed to Iraq.  At trial, the prosecution offered a flight instruction, and Judge Swan Yerger gave that instruction to the jury.  That instruction would become the bone of contention at the Supreme Court.

Justice Jess Dickinson wrote the 8 vote majority opinion affirming the conviction, which found no error on States' first two issues.  The Court did, however, find error in States' third issue, albeit harmless. Dickinson begins the discussion of States' third issue thusly:

The reason for the lapse in publishing

I've been preparing for an oral argument before the Mississippi Court of Appeals.  I hope to resume criminal law blogging after that's over.