CJS E211 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Jury Instructions, The Empty Bottle
Document Summary
Must be information that you knew and genuinely believed at the time. In order to convict her, you must get around the imminency requirement somehow. Rule: the fact that an abusive aggressor was passive at the moment of his killing does not necessarily preclude a d from claiming self-defense (appellate court) Rule: a d must have a reasonable fear of imminent death or great bodily harm before she is entitled to a jury instruction of self-defense. Batterer is watching tv and has an empty bottle of bear watching his favorite football team lose. He is drunk and angry and stumbles into kitchen where woman is. He holds the bottle over his head and says hey bitch. at this moment, she takes a knife and stabs him to death. Can she claim self defense? may be that he is vulgar and was about to ask her for another bottle of beer.
