I am being charged with the crime of assault. In a Maine district court. On August 29, 2004 an ex- friend and I were involved in an altercation. My friend was drunk coming back from a bar when he decided to try and take my cars keys without my consent. As I told him to give me back my car keys he continued to make his way towards my vehicle. When I finally reached for the keys from his hand he punched me in the face causing me to have a black eyes and swollen face. After he made the initial hit I defended myself by hitting him back because he was trying to swing at me again. I hit him in the mouth causing him to loose consciousness for a few seconds and on his way down to the floor he bumped his head off a table. He suffered more damages to his face and mouth than I did but, he did attack me first. This happened over a year and a half ago and yesterday I received a summons in the mail to appear in court because my ex- friend said that I assaulted him. My question is does this constitute as self defense because, he was the one who initially assaulted me and I defended myself. He did suffer more severe damage to his face than mine but does that matter if he assaulted me first?

You also failed to mention if you had also been drinking.

But yes this is self defense, all you have to do is prove that he hit your first and that you had no way to escape from the fight.
And that you of course did not provoke the fight in some way. Of course graped his hand with the keys in it ( that would be the first assult if he was not giving them back) You can not use force to merely protect property if your life or the life of another is not at risk.

So you get witnesses from the area to testify as to what happened.
If you don't have any witnesses, then it will be your word against his word.

You need an attorney on this, I would say you will be found guilty if you don't have an attorney.

I will assume this hearing will be the first hearing, not a trial ( you did not say if you were charged with this that night or not) if this is a first hearing, they will hear evidence to decide of there is enough evidence to hold you over to trial. If so, they may also hear for bail pleas, so be ready to pay bail so you will not be held in jail. A friend of mine in another state was just released from jail after 11 months, he was never convicted, actually the DA finally dropped the charges ( never had enough evidence for a case) but he could not make bail so he sat in jail waiting for a trial for 11 months.

Hello Pauly:

There's a couple of things that are pretty strange about your case. The event occurred a year and half ago, and you were never contacted by the police - at least you don't mention that you were. It seems very strange that the cops AND a prosecutor would actually press charges, after all this time, based upon one drunks version of events. Unless, of course, his version is believable AND it's backed up by witnesses. Prosecutors generally don't file cases they don't think they can win. Of course, there's a few idiot prosecutors out there, but I wouldn't count on that.

If he's not credible, then you're going to cruise, and you don't even have to contemplate what kind of a defense you need. Because, before you ever have to open your mouth, the prosecutor must PROVE BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT, that you assaulted they guy. If your version is correct, then they cannot prove it, and when they're done with their case, you may ask for an immediate dismissal and you'll get it, without ever having to mention the words, "self defense".

If you find, however, when you get to court, that they have a little more than you thought, then you should hire the best criminal defense attorney you can afford, and let him decide what the best defense is - or even if there is one.

excon

Don't forget excon that this should be election year, we got to show in the news how we are cleaning the streets and the such.

We have our sheriff, some judges and the such up for election.
And all they have to do is file the charges and show that they are making those arrests, the cases can always be droped after the election or without making the news