O’Shaughnessy v. Colorado
Annotate this Case
Geri David was attacked in the parking lot of a grocery store in 2004 by a man she later identified as Defendant Michael O'Shaughnessy. She was approached from behind by Defendant who was brandishing a six-inch hunting knife with a serrated blade. He held the knife to her face and ordered her into her car. She sat in the driver's seat with her feet outside of the car and kicked at her assailant to ward off the attack. As she lashed out at him, he stabbed her with the knife, causing injury to the right and left sides of her neck and throat, to her left thigh, and to her hand. Defendant demanded her money. David told him she did not have any money and turned toward the floor of the passenger seat to look for her purse. When she turned back, Defendant was gone. He did not reach for or take the purse. A jury convicted Defendant of attempted first degree murder with a deadly weapon, attempted aggravated robbery, second degree assault, false imprisonment, reckless endangerment, and a violent crime sentence enhancer. During the course of the trial, Defendant requested a jury instruction on the affirmative defense of abandonment. The trial court denied the request. Upon review, the Supreme Court affirmed the court of appeals' judgment and held that to present an affirmative defense of abandonment of an attempt crime for jury consideration, the defendant must present "some credible evidence" on the issue, and in this case, Defendant did not present such "credible evidence." Furthermore, the Court held that having injured the victim does not necessarily foreclose the affirmative defense of abandonment.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.