Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: playground altercation

Next time you need to respectfully tell the police officer you have nothing to say without an attorney present.

Re: playground altercation

I agree with Mr. Stone. It is never wise to talk to police who suspect you of a crime -- especially one which you actually did commit -- unless you have a lawyer with you.

Intentionally hitting someone without his consent is a battery unless done in self-defense or the defense of others, or in the reasonable but mistaken belief that it was done for these reasons. To be justifiable, there must be reasonable cause to believe the person would imminently harm someone else.

Mere words are seldom sufficient to trigger these defenses. To do so they must create a reasonable belief that the speaker is about to harm the listener or someone else.

I presume your mother (no need to say "Mo***"; it's the other word that matters) was not present, so there was no reason to believe this kid was about to do what he said. I'll also bet that you didn't believe he meant what he said, which is another strike against you. And please don't take this the wrong way, but a statement of intent to have sex with someone is far from the same thing as a statement of intent to do so against the other person's will or to cause her any harm.

The other guy was almost certainly besmirching your mother's name in order to make you angry and not to state what he actually planned to do, and you almost certainly knew this. Under such circumstances, hitting him was not legally justified and amounted to the crime of battery.

Chances are that what you told the police made a prosecution more likely rather than less. But a mere slap under these circumstances is the sort of thing police will usually let go with a warning, and the officer who told you it would end there was probably being sincere. (Note to other readers -- this is *not* how it works when the police say such things to adult defendants or to those suspected of more serious crimes!) Even if you made a prosecution more likely it probably is still a long shot.

Assuming the police drop the matter you will not have a criminal record. Criminal records show convictions and the filing of charges. You definitely have not been convicted (only courts can do that, and you would have to be involved) and most likely have not been charged. Since it sounds like you were not even arrested, you won't have an arrest record either.

Next time someone insults you or a loved one have a thicker skin, and fight back with words instead of lashing out physically.