Drunk guy starts trouble with neighbor, throws a drink on her, throws a chair at her and hops over the fence onto her porch and proceeds to attack her with punches. When the argument first happened she was slicing an apple so there was already a knife on the table at the time of attack. A knife in which was used and to stab the drunken attacker in the shoulder one time to get him off her not to kill him.. now the attacker has pressed charges on the attacked. Does the neighbor have self defense on her side?

Possibly.

I would go so far as to say probably. But in order to have a better idea, I need the answer to this question:

What state or country?

And also, it depends on certain other things. For example, if he was a 101 year old man weighing 69 lbs. and she was a 21 year old, 210 lb. weight-lifter with martial arts training, it is doubtful that his punches would be considered "deadly force". If so, she wouldn't be justified in using deadly force in self-defense.

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drunk guy was stabbed in the shoulder one time to stop him from punching her not to kill him. The wound was deadly,

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I'm a bit confused. If the wound was deadly, how is he pressing charges?

Edit: Ah, I see you edited your post. That makes more sense.

U.s

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Originally Posted by Alty

I'm a bit confused. If the wound was deadly, how is he pressing charges?

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I apologize, I just edited my original post.. the wound was NOT deadly, he only received 6 staples.. he was the original attacker.. he threw a drink at her, a chair that hit her and hopped her fence to end up on her porch and started punching her

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Originally Posted by AK lawyer

Possibly.

I would go so far as to say probably. But in order to have a better idea, I need the answer to this question:

What state or country?

And also, it depends on certain other things. For example, if he was a 101 year old man weighing 69 lbs., and she was a 21 year old, 210 lb. weight-lifter with martial arts training, it is doubtful that his punches would be considered "deadly force". If so, she wouldn't be justified in using deadly force in self-defense.

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Happened in the U.S.. the drunken guy is about 6'something and 210lbs and the girl he was attacking that defended herself is 5'2 150-70lbs

You need to narrow it down more than just the US. State laws vary so we need to know the state.

Are there any witnesses? Were the police called? Were blood tests taken to determine his level of inebriation? Were criminal charges filed against him?

Somebody really NEEDS a lawyer...

And they need to press assault charges... and everything else that can remotely apply to this case according to the advice of their lawyer..,. they will know exactly what to do... and how to do it.

Exactly how much of a right to defend yourself depends a lot on where this happened...

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

You need to narrow it down more than just the US. State laws vary so we need to know the state.

Are there any witnesses? Were the ed? Were blood tests taken to determine his level of inebriation? Were criminal charges filed against him?

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Maryland, yes witnesses, including the girlfriend of the drunk Guy, whom recently had him arrested for beating her up. He was only at the house because he was granted visitation rights with his kids.not sure if much more was done. I'm just hearing about it and trying to help a friend. I do know my friend that was attacked, was told by a lawyer not to turn herself in Or Give a statement. I think holding off is hurting her, it's making her look guilty. I believe the lawyer is making her wait until she decides whether she will hire him. In the meantime, time is passing and the police hasn't heard her side.

If the drunk swore out a complaint and a warrant for her arrest has been issued, she SHOULD turn herself in. She should not wait for the arrest warrant to be served. But she should not say anything to the police without an attorney present. She should simply state that "on advice of counsel she is not saying anything without her attorney present".

You answered one of several questions I asked. Can you provide the rest of the info asked. If you want our help you need to answer our questions.

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Does the neighbor have self defense on her side?

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Hello c:

Given the facts as you've outlined them, ABSOLUTELY!

Excon

Self Defense is just that a defense, and just because a person wants too press charges, they can not file charges by theirself. If there is evidence in all of this, if there is not a history of other crimes or a long history of problems with this same person, it is most likely that the DA will not even press charges.

The real issue will be proving that is how the fight happened, How can this be proved.

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

If the drunk swore out a complaint and a warrant for her arrest has been issued, she SHOULD turn herself in. She should not wait for the arrest warrant to be served. But she should not say anything to the police without an attorney present. She should simply state that "on advice of counsel she is not saying anything without her attorney present".

You answered one of several questions I asked. Can you provide the rest of the info asked. If you want our help you need to answer our questions.

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I apologize, but I did state that I'm just finding this out. There isn't too much that I know myself. I did answer what state and witnesses, and size of the people. Everything else I am unsure about. I live in a different state than my friend so I wasn't there. I spoke briefly with her and right after hearing the details I have already stated I immediately got online and found this site. Yes your info is VERY helpful and I appreciate all replies, Thank you all so much!

Hello again, c:

For clarity sake, all that stuff about size, gender and state of drunkenness have NOTHING to do with whether a persons can defend themselves... Whoever got STRUCK by the first blow is the person who can defend him or herself, and getting a drink dumped on them IS the first blow.

excon

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Originally Posted by Fr_Chuck

Self Defense is just that a defense, and just because a person wants too press charges, they can not file charges by theirself. If there is evidence in all of this, if there is not a history of other crimes or a long history of problems with this same person, it is most likely that the DA will not even press charges.

The real issue will be proving that is how the fight happened, How can this be proved.

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I do remember her also telling me, she tried to end it but he just kept carrying on and trying to get things stirred up.. his wife was even trying to get him to stop but he pushed her to the side and that's when he hopped the fence to punch on a lady. Anyway like I said before, he was just charged last month with beating up the wife and was suppose to only be at the house for visitation. The wife says she will testify on my friend's behalf . AGAIN thank you for the replies, it's really a scary situation for my friend and she honestly doesn't know what to do about the lawyer telling her to wait for a warrant. All and ANY info is needed and VERY VERY APPRECIATED!

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Originally Posted by excon

Hello again, c:

For clarity sake, all that stuff about size, gender and state of drunkenness have NOTHING to do with whether a persons can defend themselves... Whoever got STRUCK by the first blow is the person who can defend him or herself, and getting a drink dumped on them IS the first blow.

excon

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Particularly when the person committing the assult (the drunk here) is tresspassing on someone else's proiperty (the victims) when they do it. (that is assuming I understood WHERE this happened correctly)

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Originally Posted by smoothy

Particularly when the person committing the assult (the drunk here) is tresspassing on someone elses proiperty (the victims) when they do it. (that is assuming I understood WHERE this happened correctly)

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Yes my friend was out on her porch. The houses are connected side by side, so separating the porches are small, waist high fences. He threw the drink and the chair from his side, but then he hopped over the fence to start punching her.

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Originally Posted by curiosity74

yes my friend was out on her porch. the houses are connected side by side, so separating the porches are small, waist high fences. He threw the drink and the chair from his side, but then he hopped over the fence to start punching her.

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Been through something similar... got assulted by two guys... I beat one guy so bad the ambulance had to take them away... they had the nerve to call the state police after they (there was two of them) assulted me...

When the state police saw where they came onto my property it went from the police considering arresting me... to them asking if I wanted to have THEM arrested instead...

I had a period to ask for charges to be pressed against them... since the one was in the ICU ward for a while and crippled up pretty good for quite a while after... and the other kept a WIDE berth after that... I never needed to push it.

She needs a Lawyer... have her try press a number of charges against him... I bet his complaint goes away real quick... in any case... if it's a case of bring it on... she can turn the tables and put him behind bars most likely.

Guy beating up on a woman... she's already starting from a favorible standpoint. Guy beating up on a woman after tresspassing on HER property... her case is really good.

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Originally Posted by curiosity74

she honestly doesn't know what to do about the lawyer telling her to wait for a warrant.

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That is different from not turning herself in. If no warrant has been issued, then there is nothing to turn herself in for. If a warrant is issued, then she should immediately contact the local police station and arrange to come in.

But one thing that we NEED to know is whether the police were called and whether there is a police report for this incident. It's a very key point here.

For example, if a police report was done and neither party filed charges, then a warrant may be unlikely, even if the drunk pushes for it.

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

That is different from not turning herself in. If no warrant has been issued, then there is nothing to turn herself in for. If a warrant is issued, then she should immediately contact the local police station and arrange to come in.

But one thing that we NEED to know is whether the police were called and whether there is a police report for this incident. Its a very key point here.

For example, if a police report was done and neither party filed charges, then a warrant may be unlikely, even if the drunk pushes for it.

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The police were called but I think it was by a neighbor(not either of the parties), and only the drunk guy gave his statement. The police wanted to talk to my friend but being scared because she defended herself the way she did, she left the house and has not talked to the police yet. She talk to the lawyer first, the next day and that's when he told her to do nothing. As I stated before, I believe it's hurting her now to have waited so long. This all happened on Sunday. I'm going to call her for an update right now. Thanks Everyone!