This section contains the nature of the case and procedural background.

D was charged in a one count information with assaulting Joyce Straight within a federal military installation. Both D and Straight board horses at the installation. The two argued over numerous matters, in the course of which D called Straight a liar, and culminated when, according to Straight, D told Straight 'I'll kill you, you f****** bitch.' Thereafter, according to Straight, D returned to the vehicle she was driving, and Straight returned to her automobile. D drove off, and Straight reported the incident, first to 911, and then to the base MPs. Straight feared that D, after returning to her vehicle, might 'ram' her or her vehicle by driving into the Straight vehicle. Straight based her fear of such, in part, on a prior altercation she had with D. Straight testified that on the prior occasion, after an argument between the two, D drove her vehicle directly at a vehicle in which she and her husband were seated in an 'aggressive manner' at an accelerating speed and skidded to a stop about 3 feet away from the Straight vehicle. The only witnesses were Straight and D, the latter denying that she made any threat to kill Straight or that on a prior occasion she had attempted to 'ram' a vehicle in which Straight and her husband were seated. The magistrate found that Straight had reasonable belief to fear or expect immediate bodily injury given D's verbal threat and D's prior threatening behavior while driving. Straight reasonable apprehension of immediate bodily harm. D was convicted and appealed.

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