[knat]

My question involves criminal law for the state of: Florida

So here is my situation. I am a minor. My mother chokes me and hits me, then tackles me onto a bed in an attempt to hit my head on the back of the bed. All for simply being on the phone. She's smart enough not to leave marks. But, in an attempt to get her off me, I manage to wedge my legs between her and myself to get some space while she's tackling me, and when I get her off she loses her balance and falls. Therefore, she has marks on HER. Now she is trying to charge me with domestic battery and I can't do anything because of "corporal punishment". But wouldn't that be considered excessive force? And if it is, can't I use self-defense?


Please help.

[aardvarc]

The way these things usually fall is that the party with marks gets to be the victim, and the party without marks doesn't. If the one with marks is also the one who called police, that increases the odds - although anything IS possible. Self defense against excessive force is certainly a possible defense, but with no marks to SHOW that the force was excessive, and without some history of such over time showing a pattern, there's nothing to investigate except one person's word vs another person's visible marks which doesn't leave the investigation much to go on. Unless mom somehow confesses to something MORE than corporal punishment, it'll actually be up to the DA to decide to bring criminal charges or not.

[knat]

There has been a history of the police being called to our residence due to things of this nature. However, when the first officer came out and informed my mom about corporal punishment that led her to believe she can hit me all she wants because she's my parent. Even though all I did was self defense, how can I still be getting charged with domestic battery? I didn't hit her, she simply lost her balance and fell. How can I convey to the jury/judge in court to see what really happened?

[aardvarc]

You can get charged with just about anything the police can think of that even mildly fits the situation. They only need the low burden of probable cause - they don't have to PROVE you did it in order to charge you. In situations of family-on-family violence, because SO many of them end up badly (ie dead people), police will pretty much always err on the side of caution - and in many states, they are bound by law to make an arrest when there is any suspicion that some form of domestic violence has occurred. You WILL get a chance to tell your side to judge/jury in court.