I have a court date coming up for a fight I got in at the mall. Some girl had been prank calling my boyfriends phone and sending messages via myspace talking "smack". I saw her at the mall and confronted her on it. She lied and mouthed off so I took the lid off my iced tea and poured it over her head. Immediatley she attacked me. Next thing I knew, I was in a choke hold by some lady and the iced tea covered girl was getting up off the floor and dashing for security demanding that charges be pressed. So now, we're days away from going to court and people are telling me that I should have counter pressed charges cause technically she layed hands on me first. I've never dealt with this kind of stuff and I have no idea what to think.
Answer:
You should "lawyer up"
find a good criminal atty. Technically you began the assault by pouring the tea over her head, until then it was just words, she could have been charged with harassment first.
Yes - Any unwanted touching can be classified as an assault.
yep
lol. Yes it does constitute assualt. But also it constitutes Battery charges. Assualt is the threat to bodily harm (like waving a fist or gun to someone) and battery is the harm itself (like punching or shooting that person).
Yes.Next time let your boyfriend deal with it.
attempted murder
Nowadays you can have charges pressed just by looking at someone wrong... I would maintain that the spill was an accident and you were attacked first...
but that's just me ;)
The physical contact doesn't have to be your body to her body. If you intentionally cause something unwelcome to come into physical contact with her, that's enough. Would you be asking this question if you had thrown a rock at her? Of course not. Just because the iced tea wasn't the most dangerous object doesn't change the fact that you initiated the physical confrontation.
I'm not a lawyer, but I work in a job where you need to have some knowledge of the law. In Canada, where I live, any kind of unwanted physical contact could be considered an assault. Pouring iced tea on someone counts as an assault. If the other girl laid hands on you, in Canada at least, she could also be open to a charge of assault. Since both Canadian and American law have roots in English common law (I'm assuming you're American), the laws regarding assault should be pretty similar.
At this point, the smart thing for you to do is to get the best lawyer you can afford and try and have the charges reduced or dropped. The prosecution might see the situation as a couple of teen-aged girls (I'm assuming you're in your teens; almost everyone on FreeLawAnswer.coms seems to be) acting like idiots and decide to spend their time on better things. Get a lawyer, however. You don't want to mess around with the justice system or get a criminal record. America is particularly punitive when it comes to criminal records.
Yes it is considered assault. To what extent, depends on the judge.
If you are lucky, the judge will think the retaliation was an over reaction from the girl.
Being shoved is being assaulted, but does not give someone the right to shoot them in self defense (or at least would be very difficult to prove it was justified).
If you are lucky, you can possibly consider paying 'restitution' to the girl. Maybe the cost of dry cleaning her clothes, and/or getting her hair done, in exchange for charges dropped.
Obviously talk to a lawyer, even a public defender.
Most likely you'll be charged with battery. Battery is a slightly less offense than assault. If you punch someone that's assault as it can be said you intend to hurt them, pouring ice tea on someone is more like an insult.
You'll probably get a fine and probation, she only mouthed off technically you attacked her.
Assault %26 Battery might be a bit of an extreme verdict, but what you did is SOMETHING. And I'd say you could get hit with that. A lawyer will get it reduced to whatever they can for you.
You realize that it IS something, right? That it's not perfectly OK to be throwing liquids on people--that at the VERY minimum, you're responsible for damage to clothes, etc?
I find it interesting (and a bit sad) how often people allow words to bother them so much...and lead to things like this, or worse. What ever happened to the old saying about "sticks %26 stones?"
...names will never hurt you, but a fine or jail time might.
Please do yourself a favor and get a lawyer.
She didn't attack you, you attacked her by pouring the tea-- changing it from a verbal confrontation to a physical one. Better take the best plea deal thrown your way and hope for the best.
Amercians gained their freedom over a row involving tea - I think it's probably written somewhere in the constitution that all tea related skirmishes should be left unpunished - Are you from Boston?
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