Commonwealth of Virginia v. Rebecca Scarlett Cary.

Summary

The Supreme Court of Virginia affirmed the Court of Appeals' judgment vacating Cary's convictions and remanding for a new trial. It held that Cary preserved her self-defense-instruction claim by proffering a legally correct instruction and that the evidence, viewed favorably to her, supported an inference that Beekman was advancing to resume his assault, establishing an overt act of imminent danger. The court declined to decide the admissibility of Beekman's prior violence or the right-to-arm, heat-of-passion, and voluntary-manslaughter instruction issues because those matters could arise differently on retrial.