State v. Dial

MITCHELL, Judge.

The defendant first assigns as error the failure of the trial court to instruct the jury concerning the law of self-defense. The trial court is required to charge on self-defense, even without a special request, when there is some construction of the evidence from which a reasonable inference could be drawn that the defendant assaulted the victim in self-defense. State v. Goodson, 235 N.C. 177, 69 S.E. 2d 242 (1952); State v. Lewis, 27 N.C. App. 426, 219 S.E. 2d 554 (1975), cert. denied, 289 N.C. 141, 220 S.E. 2d 799 (1976). An assault with the intent to kill is justified…