Thursday, January 05, 2006

Trained fighters more vulnerable to criminal charges

A common question people have is whether trained fighters and martial artists must "register their hands as deadly weapons". Not true, but not totally off the mark either. If a trained fighter uses their training against someone, and criminal charges are brought, most courts can use that evidence to decide what the state of mind of the defendant was. If you claim self-defense, but clearly had more than adequate training to defend yourself without paralyzing someone, that could be a problem. See Vitauts M. Gulbis, "Parts of the Human Body, Other Than Feet, as Deadly or Dangerous Weapons for Purposes of Statutes Aggravating Offenses Such as Assault and Robbery," 8 A.L.R.4th 1268 (1981 and supplements)and this article

The relevant california case here is People v. Dozie, 224 Cal. App. 2d 474

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