Criminal Law: Domestic Assault – Self-Defense Instruction – Manifest Injustice

Stephanie Maniscalco//August 20, 2009

State v. Hiltibal (MLW No. 59542/Case No. WD69620 – 10 pages) (Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, Smart Jr., J.)

Where a defendant who was convicted of second-degree domestic assault testified that his girlfriend was drunk and was the initial aggressor when she hit him on the head with a beer bottle and then tried to gouge out his eyes, the testimony if believed by a jury could support the defendant’s use of potentially deadly force, so the trial court’s error in failing to submit a self-defense instruction to the jury requires a new trial.

Judgment is reversed and remanded.

State v. Hiltibal (MLW No. 59542/Case No. WD69620 – 10 pages) (Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, Smart Jr., J.) Appealed from circuit court, Moniteau County, Barnes, J. (Margaret M. Johnston, Columbia, for appellant) (Shaun J. Mackelprang and Jayne T. Woods, Jefferson City, for respondent).

Click here to read the full opinion.