State v. Hardwick

After a trial to a jury, the defendant was convicted of the crime of assault in the first degree for violation of General Statutes 53a-59(a)(1). In his appeal,1 the defendant assigns as error (1) the trial judge's conduct toward the defendant's counsel; (2) certain evidentiary rulings; and (3) the trial judge's charge to the jury on the issue of self-defense.

The facts may be summarized as follows: The defendant and the victim, after having been introduced in a telephone conversation in 1980, had contact with each other mostly through letters. She saw him for a second time on January 6, 1982.…