Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: Question about self-defense

Your question doesn't say whether the store is suing you civilly or trying to start a criminal case against you. If this is a civil suit then I would argue that the store has no standing; after all, the store wasn't assaulted. If anyone has the right to sue you it would be the clerk.

If you are talking about a criminal matter then I'm not sure why you would get a notice from the store; the store has no authority to bring a criminal case. Only the government can prosecute crimes, and if the D.A. intends to go after you it would be his office that sent you a notice.

But let's assume that the D.A. charges you with assault. You will then have a real problem on your hands, because you actually did assault the clerk. He was within his rights (technically, he was acting on behalf of the store and was within the store's rights) to demand a look inside your bag, and you used force to prevent him from doing so. You can't argue self-defense when the person you are supposedly defending against has done nothing wrong. In the eyes of the law, you were the aggressor.

There is such a thing as "imperfect self-defense," which is an argument that you mistakenly -- but reasonably -- believed you needed to use force to defend yourself. This would be a good defense if someone had pointed a realistic toy gun at you and you shot him. Unfortunately, this argument only works if you were mistaken about the facts and not if you simply misunderstood the law. Since it seems you knew what was happening and mistakenly thought the clerk had no right to demand a look inside your bag, this argument would not be available to you.

Based on the limited information you have provided, the prosecution seems to have a good case against you. You should get a lawyer and discuss the case with her in more detail to see what arguments she believes might work.

And if all else fails and you get convicted, your sentence will probably be a modest fine and probation. Unless you already have a criminal record, I can't imagine any judge imposing jail time for a simple shove.

Re: Question about self-defense

Thank you for your posting.

I couldn't agree more with Mr. Hoffman's legally correct information. It is curious that you would receive a letter from the store "saying that they are charging me with assault for pushing this store clerk out of the way". As mentioned, only the prosecutor can bring such a case as a crime, and the store doesn't have standing to bring a civil lawsuit against you.

If your case involves a crime, any claim of self defense would be weak. If you were forced to stay there, you would have had cause to sue them for false imprisonment, but it does seem by your own admission that you did assault the clerk, or at least met the legal elements of battery or assault.

I hope that this information helps, but if you want more information, have further questions, or feel that you need legal representation, please feel free to email me directly at [email protected]. It's my pleasure to assist you in any way that I can.