Case State v. cutiford
Cuttiford and Banks lived in the same dublex; Banks lived upstairs and Cuttiford lived downstairs. The two appartments shared a common internal stairway at the back of the duplex. A confrontation began between Banks and Cuttiford in the rear stairway of the dublex. Banks became rather violent and threatened Cuttiford and Cuttiford's wife. Cuttiford went to his appartment on the bottom floor and retreived two guns from his bedroom. When he returned to the back door near the stairway, Banks told him, "you dont have the guts to use that, because you are going to use it because i am going to kill you" Banks than came at Cuttiford, lunging from the common stairway into the kitchen of the Cuttiford's apartment. Cuttiford than shot and killed Banks. At trial, Cuttiford argued that he shot Banks in self-defence. The trial court refused to instruct the jury that Cuttiford did not have to retreat ino his own home before acting to repel an attacker. The court apparently believed the prosecution, which had argued that because Banks and Cuttiford occupied the same duplex, Cuttiford had the duty to retreat before repelling Bank's attack.
Was the trial court judge correct in his instruction to the jury regarding self-defense?