Aaron Jones v. United States

Appellant was charged with the second degree murder of John Hyland Rinker and convicted by a jury of manslaughter. At the trial, he admitted that he shot and killed Rinker with a pistol but claimed that he acted in self-defense.

The uncontradicted evidence revealed that following an altercation in an elevator involving appellant, Rinker, and one Robert Houston, 1 appellant went to his apartment on the third floor of the building, armed himself with a pistol, and proceeded to the fifth floor, where the fatal episode occurred. Appellant testified that he went to the fifth floor “to see why the…