What Case Law Is Commonly Used Defending Agains Domestic Violence in California
Self-Defense force in Domestic Violence Cases
If you take lived with a significant other, y'all know that arguments can begin over the smallest little things. Last year, a fifty-year-old adult female was charged with a felony attack after she stabbed her 61-year-one-time swain with a pen because he ate all the salsa.1 Another woman stabbed her boyfriend in a fight over the air conditioning in their hotel room.2
And so, if this happens to you, could you fight back? What happens if y'all're accused of domestic violence only you were only defending yourself? Is self-defense force a valid defense to domestic violence charges?
Self-Defense force in California
In California, if you are accused of a fierce crime such equally domestic violence, y'all cannot exist convicted if it tin can exist proven that you were acting to protect yourself. Still, the defense to the charge is somewhat complicated. To successfully merits self-defense force, your lawyer must testify:
- Information technology was reasonable for you to believe that you lot were in imminent danger of suffering bodily injury;
- Information technology was reasonable for you lot to believe that the immediate use of strength was necessary to defend confronting that danger; AND
- You used no more than forcefulness than was reasonably necessary to defend against that danger.3
"Reasonable belief" does not refer to your reasonable belief, but rather what a reasonable person in your position would have believed. This means the jury is asked to determine whether it was reasonable for any person in your position to act the same way.
It must too be reasonable for y'all to have believed a threat was imminent. If your spouse yells, "I am going to impale yous ane of these days!" the threat is not imminent. If your spouse comes at you to stab you with a pen considering yous ate all the salsa, the threat is imminent, and y'all are entitled to defend yourself, so long as you lot do not utilize more force than necessary.
In California, self-defense is a "stand-your-ground" rule, which ways your defence force chaser does not have to show that you could accept fled from the danger instead of fighting back.
The Difficulty with Cocky Defense in Domestic Violence Cases
Self-defense can be a tricky defense in criminal cases. First, information technology is an affirmative defense, which means that the burden is on you and your lawyer to testify self-defense. Raising a defense of self-defense does not hateful that the prosecution must too prove that you lot were non defending yourself.
Second, those charged with domestic violence face up the reality that a jury may be predisposed to believe that you could not have been defending yourself. Afterwards all, y'all are the 1 charged, not your spouse, so information technology is natural for jury members to think of you as the bad person in this case. This is especially truthful if you appear to exist the physically stronger person in the human relationship.
That is why hiring an experienced domestic violence attorney is disquisitional if you are facing domestic violence charges as a event of defending yourself. Your chaser will know how to provide evidence and demonstrate how your deportment were only a reaction to the imminent threat of harm you were facing, and to convince a jury that despite appearances, you were the bodily victim in this case.
Contact the Domestic Violence Attorneys at Wallin & Klarich Right Away
Facing a domestic violence charge is difficult, especially when you were only interim in self-defense. Having an experienced attorney at your side tin can be crucial in convincing the judge or jury that yous merely acted out of necessity to defend yourself. At Wallin & Klarich, our skilled team of attorneys has been successfully defending clients in domestic violence cases for over 40 years. We know how to demonstrate the key facts in your case, and to prove the jury that a reasonable person in your position would have done the same.
With offices in Orange County, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Bernardino, Riverside, West Covina, Torrance and Victorville, there is an experienced Wallin & Klarich criminal defense force attorney available to aid you no matter where y'all are located.
Contact our offices today at (877) 4-NO-JAIL or (877) 466-5245 for a free phone consultation. Nosotros will become through this together.
1.Associated Printing, "Adult female charged with stabbing boyfriend after salsa argument," WITN News, March 31, 2015, bachelor at http://www.witn.com/dwelling house/headlines/Adult female-charged-with-stabbing-boyfriend-subsequently-salsa-argument-298185431.html href="#ref1">↩2. Alex Zdan, "Trenton woman stabs young man during fight over air conditioning," The Times of Trenton, June i, 2011, bachelor at http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2011/06/trenton_woman_stabs_boyfriend.html. href="#ref2">↩
3.Encounter CALCRIM 3470 – Right to Self-Defense or Defence of Another (Non-Homicide). href="#ref3">↩
Source: https://www.wklaw.com/self-defense-domestic-violence-cases/
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