Need help with a 2nd degree battery charge
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Need help with a 2nd degree battery charge
My brother (who is 16 with a heart condition) and I (21 years old) were playing basketball at a local gym when a guy (28 years old) was pushing him on the court. My brother asked him to stop. The guy then looked at my brother, and pushed him in the chest with two fist and said “ima keep pushing you” I then hit the guy with a closed fist one time in the jaw. I broke his jaw and it had to be wired shut. Now i’m facing 2nd degree battery felony charges. But i was just taking up for my brother! What can i do to get the charges knocked down to simple battery. I have no prior charges.
Asked on July 6, 2009 under Criminal Law, Louisiana
Answers:
B. B., Member, New Jersey Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 14 years ago | Contributor
I think you need a good lawyer to defend you on this, because there's a chance you could be acquitted.
In most states, you have the same right to defend someone else who needs it, as you do to defend yourself. That's limited, to no more force than reasonably necessary to stop the attack on the person being defended. From your question, the outline of the facts fits this defense.
The chance of being acquitted could also be good enough to get the prosecutor to agree to take a guilty plea to simple battery, it's the sort of thing that often goes into plea bargains. Whether to take the deal or take your chances at trial will be up to you. But please, have a lawyer's help with this; he or she will know how to use the detailed facts to your best advantage.
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