§ 6-8 Self-defense - Propensity for Violence

• Library: South Carolina Requests to Charge - Criminal (SCBar) (2012 Ed.)

§ 6-8 Self-Defense - Propensity for Violence

In considering the actions of the defendant, the jury is warranted in considering the propensity for acts of violence of the victim. If the defendant knew the victim was of such propensity, then the defendant would be warranted in construing the victim's actions more harshly and acting upon hostile appearances more readily than he would have been entitled to do to a man who was not of such propensity.

State v. Atchison, 268 S.C. 588, 235 S.E.2d 294 (1977) ("The

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