United States Ninth Circuit

Defendant's conviction for assault on a federal officer is reversed in part, affirmed in part, and remanded where: 1) the district court erred in its application of the "reasonable apprehension of harm" prong of common law assault, but because the evidence would have been sufficient to convict defendant of attempted battery if the district court had not relied on the erroneous model jury instruction then in effect, the matter is remanded for retrial under the proper standard; 2) there was sufficient evidence to convict defendant of assault in violation of section 111(a) and (b) under the attempted battery prong; and 3) the district court did not err in precluding defendant from presenting evidence as part of a diminished capacity defense, nor in excluding his mental health evidence in support of a self-defense theory.

Appellate Information

• Decided 08/15/2012
• Published 08/15/2012

Judges

• Nelson

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel