State v. Simon

Anthony Simon (defendant) feared his neighbor Steffen Wong, wrongly assuming Wong was a martial-arts expert based on his ethnicity, and the two did not get along; Simon eventually fired shots at Wong and two other neighbors, and also fired at police officers who responded. Simon was charged with two counts of aggravated assault, and at trial he testified he believed Wong had advanced toward him cursing just before the shooting, while a psychologist testified Simon suffered a mental condition causing a distorted belief that he was under attack. The trial court instructed the jury using a subjective standard, asking whether Simon's use of force appeared reasonable to him under the circumstances, and the jury acquitted him on both counts; the State appealed.