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People v. Ceja6/23/1994
e issue of justification or excuse by way of perfect self-defense which do not also generate the issue of mitigation by way of imperfect self-defense. Generally, if a defendant is entitled to an instruction with respect to the former, he will be entitled to an instruction with respect to the latter." (Faulkner v. State (1983) 54 Md. App. 113, 458 A.2d 81, 84, fn. 5.)
I do not mean to suggest appellant has established "imperfect self-defense" as a matter of law. On the evidence presented, a jury reasonably could have found neither self-defense nor imperfect self-defense applied. As my colleagues also recognize, the problem is the jurors were not given the opportunity to consider the latter, since the court failed to even instruct on imperfect self-defense while it did instruct on self-defense itself.
In my view, De Leon gave expression in California to a sound, eminently logical principle which has gained wide acceptance elsewhere. In this and future cases where trial courts find sufficient reason to give an instruction on perfect self-defense, they also should grant a requested instruction on imperfect self-defense.
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