ST. LOUIS (AP) - A St. Louis man should receive another trial in a 2016 shooting death because a judge did not tell jurors they could consider whether the shooting was self-defense, an appeals court has ruled.
Christopher Endicott, 28, was serving a 25-year sentence for second-degree murder in the death of 37-year-old Jarrett Greene outside a bar in the Soulard district of St. Louis.
The Missouri Court of Appeals for the Eastern District last week reversed Endicott’s conviction, finding that Circuit Judge Jason Sengheiser should have given the jury instructions to consider whether Endicott acted in self-defense to help a friend, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
Endicott was released from jail Friday and placed on house arrest after his bond was reduced to $50,000, which a relative paid.
Endicott claimed self-defense in Green’s killing because Greene had an unloaded pistol and had racked it shortly before the shooting. He was convicted at a second trial after his first trial ended in a hung jury.
Greene was shot at least 10 times, including six in the back after he had fallen to the pavement.
Attorney Terry Niehoff, who represented Endicott at both trials in 2018, said he was “exuberant” over the appeals court’s ruling.
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