TUCSON, Ariz. β An appellate court has overturned a man's second-degree murder convictions in the 2013 shooting deaths of two Tucson men but affirmed his convictions for aggravated assault in the same case.
Antajuan Stewart Carson Jr. was convicted in the shootings of 18-year-old Stanford Bell and 20-year-old Javohn Milne outside a crowded house party. A third man was shot and wounded.
A divided Court of Appeals panel ruled Friday that Carson's murder convictions can't stand because he wasn't allowed to argue defenses based on both self-defense and mistaken identity.
The ruling said the two defenses are inconsistent but that it's up to the jury to determine the facts so jurors needed to hear an instruction about self-defense if there was any evidence of justification.
Carson is serving multiple prison terms in Florence.
