State v. Ortiz

Opinion of the Court by

WATANABE, J.

This appeal requires us to determine the applicability of the affirmative defenses of duress and choice of evils to a prison escape situation. Defendant-Appellant Larry Ortiz (Ortiz), who is appealing his conviction, following a jury verdict, of Escape in the Second Degree, contends that the Circuit Court of the First Circuit (the circuit court) reversibly erred by: (1) refusing to instruct the jury as to the affirmative defense of duress; (2) precluding evidence of duress that occurred subsequent to the escape; and (3) wrongly instructing the jury as to the…