PHOENIX – The Arizona Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the right to claim self-defense extends to someone who is inside a locked bedroom of a home even if the person trying to enter has been invited into the main residence.
Tuesday’s ruling vacated the aggravated assault conviction of a Tucson man convicted in a case prosecuted by the Pima County Attorney’s office.
More importantly, it extends Arizona’s robust self-defense laws to areas previously not covered to anyone in the state.
The high court, with six of seven justices agreeing, said that John Logan Brown was entitled to have a jury consider some self-defense arguments precluded by a trial judge. Pima County Superior Court Judge Brenden J. Griffin – and the Arizona Court of Appeals – had ruled otherwise.
Justice James Beene, writ