Criminal Defense Lawyer in Virginia Beach

Domestic Assault and Battery

Another way to win a criminal assault and battery charge is to successfully argue self defense.

In Virginia, one may use non-deadly force if there is a reasonable apparent reason that said force was justified. Please note that the reasonably apparent reason is viewed from the perspective of the accused at the time of the incident. Self defense is an affirmative defense which means that the accused would have to testify in trial. If the accused can establish that they were acting in self defense then they should be found not guilty because self defense is a complete defense.

Let’s say person A walks up to person B and pushes them once. Person B then responds by pushing person A back once. Person A then takes assault and battery charges out against person B. In that case person B should prevail in a self defense claim. Person A was the aggressor and assaulted person B first and then person B responded back with equal force by pushing person A back, and that kind of response in a scenario like from person B’s perspective at the time would clearly be considered reasonable. Conversely, if person A walks up to person B and pushes them once and person B responds by punching person A hard in the face three times in rapid succession that might not be considered to be as reasonable. I could see a judge finding person B guilty in that scenario because although they were justified in using some amount of force, the amount of force they chose to use in that scenario was too excessive and therefore not reasonable under the specific circumstances.