Constitutional Law

AZ: no retrial for Harold Fish

Story here.

"Rozema said that two developments prompted his decision not to retry the case. First, the Arizona Court of Appeals overturned Fish's conviction. ... [T]he appellate court decided the jury was not instructed properly as to what constitutes "unlawful physical force." The court also decided the jury should have heard evidence that Kuenzli was known to act violently when confronted about dogs in his care.

Second, Gov. Jan Brewer signed a bill into law Monday that applied retroactively to the Fish case a new law on self-defense. Whereas Fish had to prove at his trial that he acted in self-defense, it is now up to the prosecution to prove at trial that Fish did not act in self-defense."

Full post as published by Of Arms and the Law on July 17, 2009 (boomark / email).