State v. Magaraci

Syllabus

Convicted, after a jury trial, of the crime of assault in the first degree in connection with an altercation between the defendant and W during which the defendant stabbed W and B with a knife, the defendant appealed to this court. He claimed, inter alia, that there was insufficient evidence to support his conviction because the state failed to disprove beyond a reasonable doubt that he acted in self-defense. Held: 1. The state produced sufficient evidence to disprove the defendant's theory of self-defense beyond a reasonable doubt, as there was evidence, which the jury reasonably could have credited, that the defendant was the initial aggressor who had lunged at and stabbed W and, in the process, had stabbed B, and the jury was free to disbelieve the defendant's version of events; moreover, the jury reasonably could have determined that the state carried its burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant used deadly force against W despite the fact that he had actual knowledge of his ability to retreat safely, as he admitted on cross- examination that he could have walked away from W. 2. This court declined to review the merits of the defendant's claim that he was deprived of his constitutional right to a unanimous verdict when the trial court improperly charged the jury on self-defense by failing to expressly instruct the jury that it must unanimously agree on the factual basis for rejecting his theory of self-defense, the defendant having waived his claim of instructional error; the record indicated that the court provided defense counsel with a copy of its charge, which included the self-defense and unanimity instructions that were read to the jury, and with a meaningful opportunity to review the instructions, that the court solicited comments from counsel before and after it read the instructions to the jury, that defense counsel not only failed to object to the charge but indicated his satisfaction with it, and that counsel did not file a reque