Man convicted in 'stand your ground' case will get a second trial in Texas

Associated Press in Houston
theguardian.com, Friday 19 December 2014 17.39 GMT

A Texas appeals court has ruled that a man convicted of murder after jurors rejected his “stand your ground” self-defense claim didn’t get a fair trial and deserves a new one.

Raul Rodriguez, 49, has been serving a 40-year prison term for the May 2010 slaying of a 36-year-old man during an argument over loud music in a rural Harris County neighborhood northeast of Houston.

The 1st Texas Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that the instructions given to the jury in Rodriguez’s 2012 trial, before deliberations, were too confusing.

The function of the jury charge “is not merely to avoid misleading but to lead and prevent confusion,” a three-judge panel of the court said in a 39-page ruling. It said the jury charge was far from the way instructions should be: clear, concise and to the point. It returned the case to the trial court for a new trial.

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