State v. Schaefer

FIDEL, Judge,

specially concurring:

I concur in all portions of the court’s opinion save one. The majority holds, and I agree, that the claim of right defense has been abolished by A.R.S. § 13-1801(A)(12). The majority adds, however, that even if the defense survives, this defendant could not assert it because the claim of right defense is unavailable to a defendant who denies that he took property by force. Here I disagree.

If we are correct in holding the defense abolished, the point is academic in this case. Yet it has significance in the larger context of justification defenses as a whole.…