People v. Romero

After an altercation began when a car nearly struck him and his brother, Michael Romero (defendant) stabbed and killed the driver, Alex Bernal, after Bernal struck him and tried to kick him. At trial, Romero himself testified he had not felt in imminent danger of death or serious injury when he stabbed Bernal. He sought to introduce expert testimony from a sociologist on Hispanic street-fighting culture and a paternalistic duty to protect a younger brother; the trial court excluded it as irrelevant to self-defense, and the jury convicted him of murder.