Felder v. State

The trial court erred in failing to charge the jury on the principles of retreat in self-defense cases, since the state put retreat in issue, self-defense was the only defense raised and the evidence of defendant's guilt was not otherwise overwhelming.

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A Crisp County jury found Christopher David Felder guilty of aggravated assault, OCGA § 16-5-1 a 2; possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, OCGA § 16-11-131 b; and carrying a handgun without a license, OCGA § 16-11-128 a. Felder appeals from the order denying his motion for new trial. Felder contends, among other things, that the trial court erred in failing to charge the jury on the principles of retreat in self-defense cases. We agree that the court erred in failing to so charge, and we reverse. Viewed in the light most favorable to the jury’s verdict,1 the record reveals the following relevant evidence. During the late evening of June 24, 2004, Felder and Frederick Smith got into a fight outside a bar in Cordele, Georgia. Felder and Smith’s younger brother, Jessie, had been in two fights earlier that day, as part of an ongoing family feud between the Smiths and the Felders, who are cousins by marriage. Several members of both sides of the family were present at the bar when the fight between Smith and Felder broke out.

According to Smith, the fight started shortly after he arrived at the bar to rescue his brother Jessie. He testified he walked up to Felder, demanded to know why Felder kept “jumping” his brother, and the two simultaneously grabbed each other. He testified that during the fight, which he said Felder was losing, Felder pulled a gun on him, causing him to back away. Felder then stepped toward Smith’s sister, who was on the ground brawling with Felder’s wife. He kicked the sister in the back, pointed the gun at her, and said “Bitch, get up off my wife.” The sister “talked her way up,” and as soon as Felder ceased pointing the gun at her, she fled through the bar and out the back door. Smith and Felder exchanged a few words, and then Felder shot Smith in the abdomen. Felder walked away, and Smith got into a car with a friend and went to the hospital.

Felder v. State

The trial court erred in failing to charge the jury on the principles of retreat in self-defense cases, since the state put retreat in issue, self-defense was the only defense raised and the evidence of defendant's guilt was not otherwise overwhelming.

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