Commonwealth v. Fontes

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• holding that defendant may introduce specific instances of victim’s violent conduct to support self-defense theory only if such instances are recent and known to defendant at the time of the homicide
• holding that defendant may introduce specific instances of victim's violent conduct to support self-defense theory only if such instances are recent and known to defendant at the time of the homicide
• adopting a rule that in a homicide case recent specific instances of a victim’s violent conduct, known to a defendant, are admissible to show that the defendant acted justifiably in self-defense
• \what was in the defendant's mind when he confronted the victim\ relevant in cases involving self-defense claim
• vague and generalized offer of proof which does not clearly show the purpose and the theory under which the evidence was offered is inadequate
• defendant’s state of mind and reasonableness of his apprehension of safety can be difficult issues for the jury

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).