Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Battery

my boyfriend who is 19 was recently sentenced to 30 days in jail, 2 AA meetings a week for 12 weeks, $2,000 in fines and 3 years of formal probation. This was his first offense and all he did was hit a kid one time and it was in my defense because the kid, who is 17, verbally assaulted me. my boyfriend had 3 beers and blew .0008, he was not at all drunk. and hasn't drank since. this is also the first time he's ever been in trouble for ne thing. for a first offense, this just doesn't seem right. Am I wrong? Please email me the response


Asked on 1/06/05, 2:20 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Edward Hoffman Law Offices of Edward A. Hoffman

Re: Battery

You are wrong.

People are allowed to use force in the defense of others, but only where a reasonable person would believe that such force was necessary. You say you had been "verbally assaulted," but the law recognizes no such thing. Verbal attacks do not justify a physical response unless they make a physical attack seem imminent. Your boyfriend thus had no legal justification to hit the other boy, so his actions were a battery.

Whether your boyfriend seemed (or even was) drunk is beside the point because being drunk is not part of the definition of battery. Alcohol consumption makes many people more violent, and this effect often kicks in well before the person could fairly be called drunk.

Whether his punishment suits the crime depends on additional facts which you have not provided, including how badly the boy was injured and how likely it appears that the alcohol affected your boyfriend's conduct. I would also need to know whether he was sentenced after a trial or if he accepted a plea bargain and, if the latter, what the terms of the bargain were.

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Answered on 1/06/05, 2:23 pm


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