Prior convictions, charges, or even just investigations into the deceased are not relevant.... he’s the victim, not the charged.
It's relevant. In a lethal force self-defense claim before the court, the dead man's criminal record (if it involves violence, even tangentially) is relevant because it lends credence to the claim that his behavior during the struggle leading to his death was such as to place an ordinary person in fear of imminent, and potentially deadly, violence. The logic goes: if he engaged in criminal violence before, that shows a pattern that supports the claim that he was behaving similarly on the day in question.
