State v. Bass

The Supreme Court affirmed in part and reversed in part the decision of the court of appeals concluding that the trial court committed prejudicial error in three of its rulings during the trial proceedings and that Defendant was entitled to a new trial, holding that the court of appeals erred in finding error on two of the three issues but properly found prejudicial error on the first issue.A jury found Defendant guilty of assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury. The court of appeals reversed, concluding that the trial court committed prejudicial error by (1) omitting the relevant stand-your-ground language from jury instructions on self-defense, (2) excluding evidence at trial of specific incidents of the victim’s violent past conduct, and (3) denying Defendant’s motion to continue. The Supreme Court reversed in part, holding (1) the Court of Appeals correctly found that Defendant was entitled to a new trial on the basis that the trial court committed reversible error in omitting the relevant stand-your-ground language from the jury instructions; but (2) the trial court did not err in excluding specific instances of the victim’s violent conduct or in denying Defendant’s motion to continue. View "State v. Bass" on Justia Law