People v. Lenkevich

The principal issue arises from a plea of self-defense after an altercation between husband and wife in their own home during which the husband was killed. We are asked to determine whether the judge prejudicially erred in instructing the jurors that to justify the taking of a human life in self-defense they must find

"that there must have been no way open whereby she could have retreated, as it appeared to her at the time of the stabbing to a place of safety and thus avoid the conflict.”

The Court of Appeals affirmed defendant’s conviction but there is a split of authority in that Court.

We…