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Legal Issues Concerning Martial Artist
How Do You Plead ... Guilty or Not Guilty? The Legal Implications of Using
Your Martial Arts Skills to Defend Yourself, By James Bishop
Originally printed in the February 1999 issue of Black Belt Magazine.
In the movie Con Air, Nicholas Cage played a military man who was attacked by a gang of drunken rabble-rousers intent on doing harm to him and his wife. Using the martial arts, Cage stood his ground against his attackers until only one remained standing. When that man pulled out a knife, Cage turned the blade on him. Because of Cage's military combat training, a judge called him a "lethal weapon" and gave him the maximum sentence for manslaughter.
Should this be dismissed as mere fiction, or could it really happen? You might be surprised.
Reality Check
The truth is that you stand a reasonable chance of facing criminal penalties for defending yourself using the knowledge you learn from the martial arts. That's because when you have knowledge of self-defense, the justice system sees you as less of a victim. If you maim or kill your assailant, you may be seen as the victimizer because even though you were assaulted, your assailant had less knowledge than you and, therefore, was at a disadvantage.
"There's the primary concern in a self-defense situation, which is saving your life, and then there is the secondary concern, which is to stay out of jail," says Boyd Thomas, a Dallas-based self-defense expert and shotokan karate black belt.
Thomas, who has taught numerous police and citizens' groups, says that most martial arts schools teach self-defense but neglect to educate their students about the laws governing the use of their skills. "The main thing is that you have witnesses and that you follow procedure, both as a martial artist and as a citizen, " Thomas advises.
The question you are probably asking is, What is the procedure to follow?
Thomas says he benefited from the fact that his instructor was also a Texas state judge who made him well aware of his responsibilities to the law. "As a martial artist, I have been trained for deadly situations - which means if I am faced with deadly force, I will respond in kind," Thomas says. "When you are being attacked, you must evaluate your situation. Does [your assailant] really want to hurt you, or does he just want to fight? If you are attacked, a threat is a threat, but you must be conscious of the fact that your response may have legal repercussions, and you must be prepared to deal with them as well."
Food for Thought
The legalities vary from state to state, but there are some constants. For you to make a successful claim of self-defense, you must convince the police, judge or jury that you reasonably believed that you were in imminent danger of bodily harm from an unlawful attack by the assailant, and that you used only the force necessary to neutralize the threat.
Case in point:
On April 18,1998, a 16-year old varsity wrestler in Texas gouged the eyes of a gang member in a group altercation involving high school students and a gang of high school dropouts. When the gang member pulled out a chain and began swinging it at the other youths, the wrestler took him to the ground. Once pinned, he proceeded to gouge his eyes. The gang member was left legally blind, and the wrestler was arrested two days later and charged with aggravated assault.
His claim of self-defense failed to gain sympathy with the jury. One reason was that another student came forward claiming that the wrestler had attempted to gouge his eyes two years before. Another was that witnesses who knew the defendant identified him as a fan of pay-per-view no-holds-barred fighting events, which already enjoy a reputation - however undeserved - for excessive violence. The court also viewed the youth's experience in wrestling as an unfair advantage over the gang member.
But the facts pertaining to the altercation itself were most damaging to the wrestler's defense. He went to a pre-arranged location where he knew a fight ws to take place. He had the gang member pinned face-down, where he was unable to defend himself. And from that position, the wrestler wrapped his hands around the gang member's head and gouged his eyes.
Toward the end of the trial, the defendant entered into a plea-bargain agreement and pleaded guilty. In exchange, he was ordered to attend a military school for troubled youth for the remainder of his high school education, a comparatively light sentence when you consider that he might have received 20 years if the jury had convicted him.
Legal Analysis
What went wrong? A top high school student who participated in varsity wrestling, football and the debate club was attacked by a gang member with a chain - and he was convicted for defending himself?
The wrestler used an amount of force that was deemed "above and beyond" what was necessary to neutralize the gang member. In other words, once the wrestler had him pinned to the ground, the gang member was no longer a threat and eye-gouging was excessive.
But what is considered excessive? This question is the same in any kind of confrontation. Are you justified in breaking a mugger's neck? Not when there is no reason to believe he intends to use deadly force against you. In fact, in some instances you could be the only one left standing inside a jail cell. For example, the Texas Penal Code states that the use of force is not justified when a.) you have provoked the assailant's actions, b.) the assailant abandons the encounter or makes his desire to do so known to you (chapter 9, section 9.31). Furthermore, if the assailant does attempt to abandon the encounter and you do not allow him to do so, he is justified in using force to defend himself.
The complexity of the legal situations that can arise - both criminally and civilly - because of an encounter is something that every martial artist should be aware of. Some police departments, in fact, will not sanction martial arts classes for their officers because of possible civil and criminal charges that they stand to face if one of their officers injures someone during the performance of his or her duty.
"What's kept me out of trouble is the knowledge that if I get into a situation, I know I'm going to hurt somebody," Thomas says. "If I hurt somebody, I need to make sure that there are some witnesses and that after I have hurt this person and I am no longer in jeopardy, I stop and render aid.
"If I know a situation is about to happen, I [should] turn to someone and say, ‘Call the police, call an ambulance and call them now, because somebody is about to get hurt real bad.'" Thomas adds.
Firsthand Experience
Thomas says there have been a few instances in which he was glad he'd been properly educated about the legal system:
"One time I was at a neighborhood bar which I frequented because I was friends with the owner. Some female friends of mine - who lived in my apartment complex - came in, saw me, and sat down with me to talk and have a drink."
"As we were talking, three ‘cowboys' kept trying to get the ladies' attention," Thomas continues. "They were drunk and ill-mannered. At one point, one of the guys asked me how much I paid for the ladies' company - at which point I told him that if you treat women with respect, you don't have to pay for their company. This infuriated the man, and he suggested that he should kick my [butt]. He got up and walked toward me. I immediately stood up, and when he pulled back to punch me I nailed him with a double palm strike to the chest. He fell backward into the corner of a cigarette machine, ripping open his back as he slid down it."
"His two buddies jumped up, and I turned to deal with them," Thomas says. "One ran out the door and the other started jumping up and down, telling me, ‘He's going for it, man! He's going for his gun!"
"As I started out the door, the bartender told me not to go out, that he had the police on the way, but I knew that if I didn't, that guy would come in shooting," Thomas says. "So I rushed out and caught him coming out of his truck. I got on the outside of his truck door and pinned him between the door and the cabin so he couldn't bring the gun up to fire. I disarmed him, then kept him under control until the police arrived. I used only the force necessary to end the situation, although I would have liked to have done much more."
Best Defense
One of the most difficult legal challenges a martial artist can face is having to prove that the action he or she took against an assailant was justified and reasonable. In 1987, in the case of Martin vs. Ohio, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that due process did not forbid placing burden of proving self-defense on the defendant. So in effect the burden of proof shifts from the prosecution to the defendant in cases of self-defense. It also means that to convict, a jury does not necessarily have to believe that the defendant's behavior was unjustified.
This decision has far-reaching implications for all martial artists who train for the purpose of self-defense. It emphasizes the importance of preparing your legal defense before the fight even starts.
Sometimes a good witness may be the only salvation you have, Thomas says.
"One night I called security about a party on the floor above my apartment that was getting out of control. When the revelers started throwing beer bottles at the cars in the parking lot, I knew I couldn't wait for security so I went up and asked them to stop. Most everyone was cooperative, but the woman who lived there became belligerent and verbally abusive. When I returned to my apartment, the security guard was waiting at my door."
"As I was explaining the situation to the security guard, the belligerent host from above came running down the hallway toward me screaming," Thomas continues. "This individual weighed about 300 pounds and was bent over like she was going to tackle me. So I side-stepped her, and her momentum carried her headfirst into the stucco wall and then into the concrete, ripping skin and hair off her face and scalp. When the police arrived, her boyfriend claimed I had attacked her. Several of the guests backed up his story.
"I told the police: ‘I didn't attack her. She ran at me, and it's dark in this little hallway. I didn't know what she had. All I saw was this person diving at me. I simply side-stepped and let her go on her way.' Fortunately, the security guard corroborated my story. Had the security guard not witnessed the incident, I probably would have gone to jail. Also, it would have been a different story - even though she was attacking me - if I had done what I did and when she hit the ground I had put my foot on her head. That would have been going too far."
Justification
The idea of a fair fight among equals is prevalent in court cases involving self-defense. In the courts there is an equal-force belief that a person is justified only in using the exact amount of force to defend himself or herself as the attacker is using. This "don't stab until stabbed" mentally suggests an overly simplistic view of unlawful attacks. Indeed, terms like "simple assault" and "ordinary battery" are often used to describe conflicts in which the assailant was unarmed. The courts generally take the stand that the harm inflicted by an unarmed assailant is not grievous enough to justify self-defense.
But an unprovoked attack by a stranger is seldom without some type of weapon. And a martial artist is trained to respond with a single-mindedness of purpose. "The mind-set is that when that moment comes, you must be prepared to do what is necessary," Thomas says. "If you attack me with a knife, you are trying to kill me. If you are trying to kill me, you're going to die. That's the realization of the moment. And I am going to react with that mind-set until the threat has been neutralized. There is no time to second-regard to what I am about to do.
"The police have a saying when they're faced with the decision to fire: It's better to be judged by 12 than carried by six," Thomas continues. "It's life or death, and what you do before and after may make all the difference in your defense."
Course of Action
So what should a person do when faced with a confrontation? "The best fight I have ever had is the one I didn't fight," Thomas says. "You want to try to defuse the situation before it gets critical. Sometimes that may mean sacrificing some pride, which may be the hardest thing to do. Let [your attacker] know you don't want to fight. If he won't accept that, attempt to retreat if reasonably possible. Never ‘warn' someone that you're a martial artist. He probably won't believe it, and it may even further antagonize him. And you will have shown him your tromp card.
"If retreat is not feasible, then you fight," Thomas continues. "If it is necessary to ensure your safety. If your assailant is injured and the threat to you no longer exists, you stop and render aid. At that point you are no longer a victim; you are now a human being who is not without compassion for everyone - even your enemies.
"When the police arrive, never give a statement after you have been [read your rights]. Assert your right to remain silent until you have an attorney. Even the simplest and seemingly most innocuous of comments can come back to haunt you."
If the altercation winds up sending you to court, there are some things you should remember. "Never leave your fate in the hands of a judge," Thomas says. "Exercise your right to a trial by jury. A jury is more likely to side with you than a judge who sees only the facts and not the circumstances. Get a good lawyer. Don't think that the system punishes only the guilty."
The most important bit of advice Thomas has to offer is perhaps the simplest: avoidance. "Use your better judgement," he says. "If you go into a place and see potential trouble, walk out. Don't wait for something to happen. See trouble before it sees you."