State v. Newell

The defendant, Mark Newell, stabbed Glen Chase during an altercation and was charged with first degree assault. See RSA 631:1, I(b) (Supp. 1995). At trial, he admitted that he stabbed Chase, but alleged that he acted in self-defense. See RSA 627:4 (1986). The jury convicted the defendant of the crime charged. He appeals, arguing that the Superior Court (Perkins, J.) erred in excluding evidence of Chase’s prior misdemeanor convictions for reckless conduct and simple assault and in excluding evidence of the conduct underlying the convictions. He also asserts error in the court’s self-defense…