When Can Defendant Pleading Self-Defense Introduce Evidence of Alleged Attacker's Past Violent Acts?

The New York Court of Appeals has declined to discard the rule that precludes the admission of prior violent acts of victims in cases of justification unless the defendant was aware of the specific acts at the time of the assault, ruling against the request of the defendant, who had sought to introduce evidence of specific violent conduct underlying the victim's prior youthful offender adjudications to prove that the victim was the initial aggressor.

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