MA-NH-NY Reputation/Character & Prior Acts of Attacker - Some Legal Help Please

[MaverickNH]

I'm working on a project and am looking for some layman's interpretation of some case law as applied by a very good lawyer (and we have several on this forum) in a self-defense claim. The question is about the special case where a defendant claims self-defense and is trained as a non-competitive martial artist.

By "non-competitive Martial Artist", I mean someone who does not participate in tournaments, has no reputation as a fighter, has no record of prior acts of violence. They do not fight Mixed Martial Arts, but practice a "traditional" style, like Shotokan, or Tae Kwon Do. They have practiced karate for 20+ years, are a Master Instructor in a school, and give public lectures/demonstrations on secure living and self-defense, but are not perceived to be violent - just very capable of defending themselves.

Maybe some examples:

1. The karate Master is physically assaulted by an unarmed aggressor in a public parking lot, and defends himself using unarmed force. The attacker was thrown to the ground and suffers bruises, scrapes a dislocated shoulder and a severely broken wrist that is permanently disabling.

2. As in #1, but the attacker sustains a concussion from being thrown to the ground and dies.

3. The karate Master is physically assaulted by an attacker in a public parking lot, who brandishes a gun and threatens to kill him. The karate Master employs a legally carried concealed pistol to defend against a perceived lethal threat and the attacker dies from his wounds.

In all cases, the attacker has no knowledge of the karate Master's skills or training, the karate Master has no opportunity to retreat due to the immediacy of the attack, and the karate Master has all necessary legal qualifications to own, possess and carry the pistol.

The prosecution decides to more forward and files a complaint of assault and/or homicide, for some reason, and the karate Master is arraigned and indicted. The prosecutor intends to bring evidence to trial of the karate Master's skill and training in unarmed self-defense, to show that he used excessive force in resisting the attacker, leading to permanent injury or death.

With reference only to the different MA, NH & NY case law in the attached table (from Branca (2013) THE LAW OF SELF DEFENSE 2nd Ed), how is the karate Master's self-defense claim managed differently in each state by a very good lawyer in pre-trial/trial stages?

This is pretty academic, granted - but that's my problem. Thanks for any help. Productive rants will be enjoyed as well!

 

[standfast86]

Wow, NY really is the shithole its made out to be. Pretty sad to be out freedomed by MA.

 

[Law of Self Defense]

Hey, I recognize that table.

One cautionary note re: MA.

As noted, a victim's specific prior bad acts of violence and general reputation for violence MAY be admitted into evidence, EVEN IF UNKNOWN TO THE DEFENDANT at the time of self-defense, but there's a very large BUT: ONLY if the issue of who was the aggressor in the fight is in dispute.

Keep in mind that there are five elements to a self-defense claim in MA. The prosecution needs to knock out only ONE of these five in order to defeat a claim of self-defense.

First aggressor (the element of "Innocence") is only one of these five. A clever prosecutor will often choose to focus their attack on one or more of the OTHER four, and NOT place first aggressor into dispute. (The prosecution concedes that the victim was indeed the first aggressor, but that the defender's self-defense claim is defective on some OTHER basis.)

If first aggressor is NOT in dispute then that victim's prior act/reputation evidence is NOT admissible if unknown to the defender at the time of self-defense.

A little complicated, sorry about that, but that's how it works (in MA, varies in other states, of course).

--Andrew, @LawSelfDefense