Colorado’s second-highest court overturned a man’s murder conviction and life sentence on Thursday after concluding a Denver judge gave a problematic self-defense instruction to jurors, casting doubt on the verdict.
Jurors delivered a split verdict, acquitting Oscar D. Villegas-Ortega of first-degree murder after deliberation, but convicting him of another murder charge as well as manslaughter and assault.
A three-judge Court of Appeals panel noted that, problematically, the self-defense instruction then-District Court Judge Brian R. Whitney gave for the acquitted count was different from the instruction for the other counts resulting in a conviction — even though the self-defense issue was identical across all charges…