Battery on a Police Officer - Penal Code 243(b) & 243(c) PC
California Penal Code 243(b) and 243(c) are the laws that define the crime of battery on a peace officer or police officer. A person commits this crime by willfully and unlawfully touching a peace officer or other protected official in a harmful or offensive manner.
Notably, to commit this crime, the touching must come while the officer is engaged in the performance of official duties. In addition to police officers, some of the other protected persons covered by this law include custodial officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians (EMTs), or paramedics.
When it comes to battery or assault on police officers, it's crucial to have a competent attorney on your side. Prosecutors and judges take these violent crime cases very seriously, and a skilled attorney can make a significant difference in the outcome of your case.
Because it involved a law enforcement officer, the police pressured the prosecutors to punish these offenders harshly. Also, the judges will be looking to punish a defendant much harsher than a regular citizen involved in a battery case.
Conducting a thorough investigation is key for a criminal defense attorney. It's also crucial to present your client's version of events, especially when the police's account may be biased and one-sided.
A lot of times, the police don't give your version of events, so the prosecutors don't know, and if you're going to go to a jury trial, you're going to want to make sure the jury knows what happened.
It's not enough to present your version of events. A comprehensive investigation is crucial to gather evidence that supports your account. This is particularly important as the police often come with instant credibility to many people, including judges, prosecutors, and juries.
Despite the challenges, with the right strategy and evidence, we can make your version of events more believable and increase the chances of a successful defense in a case involving battery on a peace officer. There is hope for a positive outcome.
What Are the Penalties?
Prosecutors often seek jail time in these cases, especially if the victim is a police officer. However, with a strong defense strategy, such as proving the police overreacted or were not performing their duties, it is possible to combat these charges.
So, to combat that, we will either need to show or wait a minute; this is different from how it happened. The police overreacted.
The police went too far in the performance of their duty, and that's why there was some physical violence.
Not because of anything that you did. So, it's crucial to show the other side of the story because, in addition to jail time, if you're charged with a felony, you could lose your right to bear arms and vote.
There's a host of other things that they can do – take away rights that you're used to having –but because you've done this to a police officer from their perspective, they're going to pull out all the stops to not only punish you but to restrict you in a lot of different ways.
What are the Common Defenses?
One of the most common defenses I've seen in these cases is self-defense. If you can prove that the police officer initiated the violence and you were merely defending yourself, this could be a strong defense. Another potential defense is arguing that the officers were not performing their duties when the incident occurred.
So, indeed, that's one defense I see all the time. An even more sophisticated defense that makes sense is to argue and wait a minute; these guys were even performing their duties when they did what they did.
They got involved in a personal argument, and they went above and beyond their duties as police officers to engage me in a fight. When I defended myself, all of a sudden, they all came.
They handcuff me and say that I've done something criminal. And you know, there's a massive incentive for the police to do this with all the political stuff going on right now and backlash.
Any time the police have to get physical with somebody – man, I've seen them pencil-web them to death – put all kinds of wrong information in there.
It simply isn't fair because the police are just trying to protect themselves, but on the flip side, that's doing horrible damage to somebody who didn't do that much and maybe, in a lot of cases, was within their rights in whatever did happen.
When I meet with people on these cases, I tell them to give me all the information. Don't leave anything out.
Give it to me from the police and prosecutor's standpoint because then, at least, I can see what they will say. Once I have all that information, we call to discuss it, get down to the nitty-gritty of what happened, and decide what we will do in your defense.
Once we have that plan in place, we can get some things done and be successful on your behalf.
If you did do something wrong and they've overemphasized it, gone too far with the charges, and are trying to impose too much of a penalty, then we're going to have to get character letters and show this is an aberration. It's never going to happen again.
Show the judge and the prosecutor all the good things about you and show them the other side of the coin so that we can get the result that you must have to get you out of the criminal justice system as fast as possible; get this off your record, preserve your freedom, preserve your rights and preserve your reputation moving forward.
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