Commonwealth v. Abubardar
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The Supreme Judicial Court reversed the decision of the Appeals Court affirmed Defendant's conviction of assault and battery as a lesser included offense of attempted murder, holding that the trial court's failure to give a nondeadly force self-defense instruction created a substantial risk of a miscarriage of justice.
On appeal, Defendant argued that the trial judge erred by failing to instruct on the use of nondeadly force in self-defense. The Appeals Court affirmed, holding that Defendant was not entitled to such an instruction and, even if were entitled, the lack of such an instruction did not give rise to a substantial risk of a miscarriage of justice. The Supreme Judicial Court reversed and remanded for a new trial on that charge, holding (1) the court's failure to provide a nondeadly force self-defense instruction lowered the Commonwealth's burden to prove the absence of proper self-defense; and (2) under the circumstances of this case, the omission of such an instruction constituted reversible error.
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