Leffel v. State

OPINION

Judge SUDDOCK.

James William Leffel was convicted of first-degree assault 1 for stabbing another man in the leg during a confrontation outside the Buckaroo Club, an Anchorage bar.

In this appeal, Leffel argues that the prosecutor improperly commented on Leffel’s post-arrest silence. We agree that the prosecutor should not have characterized Leffel’s claim of self-defense as “new information,” thus implying that Leffel had not disclosed this information to the police. However, for the reasons we explain here, we conclude that this implied reference to Leffel’s post-arrest silence was…