Aggravated Assault and Public Intoxication Charges

[matthew00]

My question involves criminal law for the state of: Tennessee

I am being charged by the state with public intoxication and aggravated assault. The victim wants to place no charges and will testify to at least he does not feel the charge is warranted. The victim is my brother in-law. According to an officer he had joke marks around his neck and a witness saw me display a knife. Now the beginning of the incident I called him a "bad name". we we're turning out of a parking lot. I got out and walked away. he followed in his car, backed into a sign and caused damage to his car. He preceded to blame me and told me to get back in the car. I said no. He would not leave. He was asking if i wanted to fight i declined several times. I then said just go ahead and hit me. He walked about 20 feet. got in my face like an angry gorilla (he is bigger than me) shoved me I fell backwards and hit my head on a curb. suspect minor concussion. My head is now gushing blood. He walks to his car sits in the front seat I grab him and he kicks my knee causing serious injury this is when i display the knife. I felt for my safety, made no attempt to use knife, victim will testify. he drove away. I got a bandage for me head from a store with 2 gentlemen. Started limping home. Witness called police and i was picked up down the road.
I am inquiring as to what I can to do at least have the charge reduced or thrown out. What kind of penalty does this bring? I am terrified how it will shape my life. My main question is how good are my chance's of getting out of this mess. I would like to state he initiated the physical violence, and I have all the injuries.

[PTPD22]

Ok, I’m not trying to contradict your version of events. But, let me take the details that you have shared and reword them from a different perspective…the perspective that a prosecutor is likely to take and present to a jury.

While intoxicated, you got into a verbal argument with your brother-in-law, who was trying to get your drunk and belligerent butt back home safely (although, I have to presume that you were BOTH drunk and his impaired driving was not actually safe…resulting in him crashing his car). You get out of the car and, concerned for your ability to find your way home safely in your impaired condition, he tries to convince you to get back in the car. You challenge him to “just go ahead and hit me”…thereby, by both words and actions, provoking an assault. He confronts you, but limits his actions to a hard shove before retreating back to the car. Rather than letting the altercation end there, you pursue him and attack him while he is in a vulnerable position…seated in the car, unable to retreat and with his ability to defend himself hampered by the confines of the vehicle and his seated position. I presume this is when you grabbed him by the throat and left the choke marks – a form of assault that is likely to result in serious injury or death. In an effort to defend himself, he kicks out, striking you in the knee. (Although you claim this caused a “serious injury,” you later fled the scene, on foot, getting “down the road” in spite of the injury. So, I suspect that your definition of “serious injury” is considerably less than the definition found in the penal codes.) Rather than retreat from his defensive actions (which you are in a position to do – he cannot because you have him cornered inside his vehicle), you escalate the assault by drawing and brandishing a deadly weapon. You say that you “made no attempt to use the knife.” However, what I think you actually mean is you made no overt attempt to cut or stab your victim. Simply displaying and brandishing the knife is “using” the knife in a criminal manner. Finally having gained the space to operate the vehicle, the victim gets the car in gear and flees from your apparently intended deadly assault. You then flee the scene on foot.

That is how a prosecutor is likely to present your scenario.

You are being charged with a violent felony. You need an attorney sooner rather than later. You say that “he initiated the physical violence.” However, the only physical violence he initiated was a single shove that you, by words and actions, provoked…and then he retreated. YOU are the one that escalated the incident into a potentially deadly incident. You say that you are the one with all the injuries. But, that is not going to have much weight as at least some of those injuries were inflicted in self defense.

If your brother-in-law is willing to go to bat for you and assume at least some of the responsibility for the fight, it will go a long way to helping your cause. If you have a previously clean record, the prosecutor may well be open to a deal on a reduced charge with a deferred prosecution that will likely involve substance abuse evaluation and treatment, anger management counseling, probation, etc. But, as I said before, you need an attorney to work on getting you such a deal.

[Disagreeable]

Instead of attacking him, by going after him in the car, you should have gotten up and walked away. That is the point where you crossed the line.