Legal Question in Criminal Law in New York

Self-defense

I would like to know what the boundries are of the self-defense law. I was Physically threatened last weekend and i pushed the man off of before he could hit me, I have 23 people that saw the other man was the aggresor and that the other man came up to me threatening me and getting ready to fight but i was the one who pushed him off of me. I would like to know if what i did could be declared self-defense or not.


Asked on 10/17/00, 11:39 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Donald G. Rehkopf, Jr. Brenna, Brenna & Boyce, PLLC

Re: Self-defense//Reply

In New York, the law on "self defense" is technically called the defense of "justification." That means, if you were assaulted or being threatened with assaultive behavior, were you legally justified in defending yourself?

Pushing someone away from you to prevent them from assaulting you, is under the circumstances that you describe, both objectively and subjectively reasonable PROVIDED that the force that you used was what you said, i.e., "pushing" him off of you.

Using excessive and unnecessary force to defend yourself would exceed the scope of justification, and would by itself amount to a separate assault. Thus, you cannot shoot someone who throws a snowball at you, for example.

I hope that this answers your question. If not and you need anything more specific, please contact me. Good luck!!

Donald G. Rehkopf, Jr.

Attorney at Law

Rochester, NY

[email protected]

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Answered on 11/14/00, 7:03 pm


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