Affirmative Defenses in Battery Cases
Although the serious violent crime rate dipped in 2023, the overall violent crime rate inched up. Officials are determined to reverse this trend, so they aggressively enforce criminal battery laws. This approach starts with aggressive police enforcement. Police officers no longer respond to disturbance calls, allow the combatants to cool off, and release them. Instead, someone is going to jail.
Prosecutors are equally aggressive. Slap-on-the-wrist probation is gone. Instead, a conviction means months of intensive court supervision. So, a Leesburg criminal defense lawyer must be equally assertive. Sometimes, this approach involves an affirmative defense. This approach is risky, because the defendant must admit guilt. However, the reward is potentially higher. An affirmative defense could allow a defendant to walk away from a case and eventually remove the matter from a permanent record.
Consent
Self-defense, perhaps the most effective affirmative defense in criminal battery matters, only applies in limited situations. However, a Leesburg criminal defense lawyer could use consent in many more situations.
Basically, consent is an affirmative and voluntary agreement to engage in current conduct. This defense is very common in sexual battery cases. In these matters, there’s usually no direct evidence of consent. Most people don’t sign liability waivers in these situations. Instead, a lawyer uses circumstantial evidence to establish consent.
If Sally flirts with David and goes upstairs with him, and this behavior was consensual, it’s unlikely that she suddenly revoked consent behind closed doors.
Sports-related battery is another good example. Under Virginia law, participants always consent to violent behavior on the field during the game, except in extreme situations (e.g. Paul drives to the hoop and Peter uses a knife to stop him).
Participants usually consent to sideline altercations as well. Such incidents are a foreseeable part of the game, at least in most cases.
Parking lot or locker room fracases are in a grey area. Prosecutors will almost certainly argue that these incidents are unforeseeable and therefore the alleged victim didn’t consent. However, this argument often falls flat, especially if the incident occurred shortly after the contest and alcohol was involved.
Consent could also be a defense in other kinds of battery cases, even domestic battery. If Lucy deliberately provokes Ricky, especially if she mimics actions that prompted a violent response in the past, a jury might conclude that Lucy consented to any domestic battery action that followed immediately thereafter.
Self-Defense
Proportionality is a key element of self-defense. Defendants cannot use physical violence to respond to verbal threats or provocations.
This element of proportionality is usually objective. The level of response, however, is more subjective. Defendants may use the amount of force they deem reasonably necessary to counter the threat. If I got in a fight with Jason Statham, I might feel that a knife or gun is reasonably necessary to defend myself.
In some courts, self-defense and other affirmative defenses could be mitigating punishment circumstances. If that’s the case, a lawyer often uses a slow plea to resolve the case. The defendant pleads guilty and asks a jury to determine punishment. This maneuver takes punishment out of the hands of heavy-handed prosecutors with political agendas and places the matter with a sympathetic jury.
Connect With a Savvy Loudoun County Lawyer
There’s a big difference between an arrest and a conviction in criminal law. For a confidential consultation with an experienced criminal defense attorney in Leesburg, contact Simms Showers, LLP, Attorneys at Law. Convenient payment plans are available.
Source:
13newsnow.com/article/news/crime/vsp-crime-report-homicides-down-but-violent-crime-up-overall/291-7538acba-e7ee-44d6-a5c1-1fafe2958426
