Criminal Defense Lawyer in Virginia Beach

Felony Strangulation

In order to be convicted of Felony Strangulation the Commonwealth must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the act was done knowingly and intentionally and unlawfully.

The terms knowingly and intentionally directly address the state of mind of the accused at the time. The accused had to be acting both deliberately and intentionally when they strangled the person. If the act was purely accidental from beginning to end, then that would be a complete defense. If the accused was purely engaging in good faith horse play and was only messing around, then that too would be a complete defense.

The term unlawfully implies that the accused would also be able to argue self-defense in certain scenarios. In order for the accused to prevail on a self defense for a Felony Strangulation charge they would have to present a lot of evidence that the other party was assaulting them very badly. In other words, if the other party merely assaulted the accused one time, then that would certainly not be enough to justify a strangulation type response. Conversely, if the other party was on top of the accused and was strangling them then the accused would certainly be justified in that very moment to strangle the other party back in the form of self defense.