Commonwealth v. Rittle

CAVANAUGH, Judge:

The issue on appeal is whether the trial court was in error in refusing to instruct the jury on the defense of self-defense. We find that under the evidence the appellant was entitled to have this issue presented to the jury and, therefore, we reverse the judgment of sentence and grant a new trial.

It is clear that if there is evidence from any source that a defendant acted in self-defense, that the defendant is not only entitled to have the issue presented to the jury but in addition is entitled to a charge that the burden is upon the Commonwealth to prove beyond a reasonable…