Harper v. United States

In this appeal appellant Angela Harper raises the principal claim that the trial judge erred by denying her request that the jury be instructed on self-defense. 1 We affirm.

I

Calvin Verrett went into a variety store to get change (he had only two $20 bills) for bus fare and was confronted and shot by appellant after he came out of the store to wait for a bus. Appellant, whom Mr. Verrett claimed never to have seen before, said “You’re the one,” and without hesitation shot him in the jaw, rendering him unconscious and causing permanent damage to his spinal cord.

An eyewitness, James Clanton, who…