Riley v. Com.

How courts have described this case

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

• explaining that as an affirmative defense, “the burden” of proving self-defense “is on the defendant to present evidence establishing [it] to the satisfaction of the fact finder”
• stating that “unconsciousness” is an affirmative defense, and thus the defendant “had the burden to present evidence, to the satisfaction of the circuit court sitting as the fact finder, that he was sleepwalking at the time he committed the charged offenses”
• “It is well settled that voluntary intoxication furnishes no excuse for the commission of a criminal offense . . . the only exception being deliberate and premeditated murder.”
• “When asserting an affirmative defense, such as insanity, self-defense, or unconsciousness, the burden is on the defendant to present evidence establishing such defense to the satisfaction of the fact finder.”
• ‘Where not self-induced, unconsciousness is a complete defense to a criminal homicide.”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).