The People v. Carlos Valentin

No reasonable view of the evidence could support a finding that defendant was the initial aggressor. Because this case hinged on a justification defense, defendant was prejudiced by the trial court’s error of including the initial aggressor exception in its justification charge. Accord*63ingly, I respectfully dissent, and would affirm the Appellate Division order remitting for a new trial.

There is no dispute that defendant used deadly physical force and that a justification charge was appropriate here. The trial court’s instruction on justification properly began with the basic premise of that…