Domestic Abuse – Self-Defense

admin//January 2, 2014//

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Appellant challenged her conviction of domestic assault stemming from an altercation with her 14-year-old stepdaughter. The Court of Appeals noted that, although the trial record contained some evidence from which a jury might infer that appellant struck the victim in self-defense, namely the deputy’s testimony, appellant did not introduce that evidence. To the contrary, she based her defense on asserting that she did not strike the victim and consequently, that the deputy’s testimony was false. Appellant did not raise self-defense in her opening statement or during the examination of witnesses. It held that the District Court did not err when it declined to instruct the jury on self-defense and the postconviction court did not err when it refused to find that appellant received ineffective assistance of counsel at trial. Affirmed.

A12-0349 State v. Gedatus (Washington County)

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