The Kansas Court of Appeals is vacating part of a sentence against a man convicted in Lyon County for aggravated battery two years ago. In the process, it has sent the case back to Lyon County District Court for a new trial.
Nicholas Faglie appealed his battery conviction after a fight at Charlie’s Place in January 2016, where he allegedly punched a man and knocked him out.
Faglie said the district court was wrong to deny his request for a self-defense jury instruction and it was wrong not to suppress incriminating statements to law enforcement because Miranda rights were not stated.
The Court of Appeals panel hearing the Faglie case said a reasonable jury could have said Faglie was not the initial aggressor and did not use excessive force during the fight, so it agreed with him on the jury instruction and, as a result, it reversed the aggravated battery conviction and vacated the resulting sentence. It also sent the case back to district court for a new trial — with directions to give the new jury a self-defense instruction if similar evidence from the first trial is presented at the second trial.
However, the court panel also said the district court was correct when it did not suppress Faglie’s initial comments to law enforcement as the investigation began.
