LANSING, MI, May 2, 2011 - A Detroit man who claims self-defense in a shooting will have
his case heard by  the  Michigan Supreme Court  on May 10, when the Court convenes in
Dearborn for "Court Community Connections," a Supreme Court program aimed principally at high school students.

  The defendant in People v Richardson shot and seriously wounded two people during an altercation with his neighbors,
who were standing outside the defendant's home. The defendant
said that he feared for his wife and himself when one of the neighbors started hitting his screen
door with a baseball bat. He was also fearful because of the neighbors; earlier hostility and
because he believed that the two people he shot  had been drinking and taking drugs, the
defendant asserted. A jury found the defendant - who had no prior criminal record - guilty of
assault and felony-firearm; the Michigan  Court of Appeals affirmed  those convictions. On
appeal, the defendant argues in part that the trial judge did not properly instruct the jury
on the elements of self defense, particularly as to whether the defendant had a duty to retreat from the attack.