Mendoza v. State
Annotate this CaseAfter a jury trial, Defendant was found guilty of aggravated assault and battery. The jury found Defendant guilty of threatening to use a drawn deadly weapon on another person, which was one of the State's two theories it advanced that Defendant committed aggravated assault. Defendant filed a motion for a new trial because the district court failed to instruct the jury that he had no duty to retreat before "threatening to use a drawn deadly weapon." The district court denied the motion and sentenced Defendant. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the jury instructions at issue did not violate a clear and unequivocal rule of law, and therefore, Defendant failed to establish plain error in the district court's denial of Defendant's motion for a new trial.
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