Legal Question in Criminal Law in Wisconsin

Im being charged with battery but the other person hit me back, but I still won the fight and the person I fought threatened to kick my ass and said he can beat the shit out of me anytime. What should I plea at court.


Asked on 1/28/12, 7:12 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

JAY Nixon nixon law offices

You should retain an experienced criminal lawyer and, if you have not yet accomplished this by your court date, you should request an adjourned court date from the judge at the time of your next court hearing. If you struck the first blow, it may be difficult for you to win unless you can prove that a pre-emptive attack was necessary in order to prevent injury (and that there was no reasonable alternative to a "first strike" by you such as running away). While such a defense could be difficult to pull off, talking about it on line as you are doing in a public web forum might make it even more difficult for you to win. You therefore need to get competent, confidential legal advice before you do anything further with regard to your case (particularly the making of public statements on line about the facts). WI does recognize self defense, but only in extremely limited circumstances where no other option was available to you. However, if the other party to the fight was only bragging that he could �take you� rather than making an immediately aggressive move towards you, you may not be able to convince a judge or a jury that you had no reasonable alternative to hitting him first. All the same, however, the threatening statements by the loser of the fight are a mitigating circumstance in your favor which might get you a better plea offer from the DA if they are properly investigated, documented and presented to the DA by your lawyer. My comments in this public web forum are intended only for public educational purposes and are not legal advice specifically tailored to you and your case. Instead, you should retain a lawyer in order to meet your legal needs, since I will be taking no action on your case. Disclosure of confidential information in a public web forum is not recommended and is always subject to being used against you in court. You are welcome to contact my Racine, WI office at 262-633-3090 or email me at [email protected] for further information. Web forum answers may contain attorney advertising materials.

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Answered on 2/02/12, 7:59 am


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