What is the penaly for: fpc 245 (A) (1) Assault with force likely to cause bodily injury. There was mention of possibly two more felonies added to this. One of my ex martial art students/Black Belts went astray. Very depressing. What are your opinions? I believe he will be going to State prison. Thanks, Abner
245(A)(1) is a felony by itself, but sentencing depends on other factors which include if it was aggravated, a persons criminal history, and of course the two other charges. Common practice is for us on the street to stack the charges in order to give the D.A. more to work with and they can use the additional charges as a bargaining chip in order to get the suspect to plead out. Clear as mud, but there is no clear cut answer without knowing more about the situation and all the charges he was apprehended for . . . Keep in mind that just because he was arrested on certain charges, doesn't mean they will stick in court. I've seen some crazy courtroom outcomes in my days, and you never know what could happen.
That looks like a California Penal Code law so being from Texas and that I was Federal to boot I cannot say much on the sentencing recommendations or guidelines but I can verify what Norcal said, it sounds like they stacked the charges or “threw the book at him” (in TV vernacular) which has about as much to do with what he will actually be convicted of as throwing dice has to do with increasing your wealth in a game of craps. At the felony level the burden of proof can be increasingly high depending upon the seriousness of the charges. In Texas an aggravated assault can be classified as a 1st or 2nd degree felony depending upon whether or not a weapon was used and who the victim is (a police officer or witness to a crime for example). For a fist fight gone bad a 2nd degree felony charge from police is about as serious as it will usually get without a weapon being involved. What will likely happen then is the offender will be offered a plea deal to assault which in Texas may vary in severity between a 2nd degree felony and class A misdemeanor (light jail time or probation but no felony conviction on record). Technically it could also be downgraded to all manner of charges though ranging from Deadly Conduct (3rd degree felony to class A misdemeanor) or in exchange for other charges on the condition some are dropped. For example if you have an assault where the offender also unlawfully evaded police he may plead guilty to evasion and not be charged with the assault, so as you see it all depends. Much of what will be offered depends on a ton of things like caseload of the DA’s office, how good of a defense attorney the offender has and circumstance surrounding the assault which may cause reasonable doubt but most importantly perhaps is the criminal background of the person charged with the crime. A 55 year old banker with no criminal record would be tougher to paint as a menace to society in a court of law than a well known 23 year old gangbanger with convictions going all the way back to his early teens. Also if both parties involved in the fight were charged with assault (happens in bar fights sometimes) or if one actor could claim self defense or the defense of another or of one’s property it introduces complexity to the case. Usually the best defense is the affirmative defense. It’s never clear cut and the initial charge is usually as bad as it could get but the highest initial charge is almost never what the court gets a conviction on.
I have a feeling there will be a whole lot of stacking up in there. He has REALLY messed up. The different assaults include threating a cop with a knife, using his hands, feet, elbows and head to beat up a drug dealer nearly to death, drunk in public, tagging, on and on and on. What makes it worse is the cops know he is a Black Belt, which will make the D.A. come down even harder on him. I travel to Los Angels (about 1 hour away, sometime 2 in traffic) to teach low income, high risk youth the martial way for free, in the hopes of bettering them. Most turn out to be good people. In this case, I just wonder where I failed him. I teach in a military manner (the way I was taught), and I teach respect, reverance and humility above all. someone told me, "You can't save them all", but that doesn't make me feel any better. Thanks Norcal, Abner
Not being a lawyer, cop, or anything like that I have nothing to offer other than my best wishes to you and my respect for your trying to make a positive difference.
Abner, you can't hold yourself at fault for this. Some people are just going to go bad no matter what you do...why do you think the corrections industry moved away from the treatment model of incarceration? Often a criminal is a criminal no matter their environment, wealth, fame, circumstances, etc. Just look at all the rich and famous NFL and NBA players who end up in prison or otherwise on the wrong side of the law. That's just how it is. It's good that you are trying to make a difference, keep it up. And don't give up on this particular kid either (assuming he's a teen or young adult). I had a wild streak a mile long when I was young...the only difference is I didn't get caught but eventually I grew up. It sounds like aggrivated assault to me in at least two of the circumstance you mention (threatening to use a weapon/knife against a police officer and battering a victim with bare hands) both of which are felonies. The knife at the cop charge might be harder to plea down, those types of charges are somewhat easy to prove in court due to the officer being a reliable source witness, especially if multiple officers and or other witnesses back up the story, the weapon was taken into custody (assuming it was) and of course the slam dunk of video and audio evidence. What a dumb move...The best you can do is pray for the guy.
I'm sorry to inform you, but you buddy will be looking at state time, for a long time would be my guess without knowing all the facts. 245(a)(1) and 148 PC is enough for the judge to put him away for a long time. Beating the drug dealer, depending how bad he beat him, could be charged several different ways. But again, I've seen weird things play out in court, I'll give you an example: I got into a pursuit with a ex-felon in a stolen car, who after the pursuit, fought us tooth and nail. End result, I arrested him on the following charges: 10851 VC- Stolen Vehicle 2800.1 VC- Felony Evading w/ vehicle 148 PC- Resist/ delay 12500 VC- Unlicensed driver 1203.2 VC- Probation Violation 23152(a/b) VC- DUI I thought it was pretty cut and dry, and we stacked the charges for the D.A.'s office. The case seemed air tight, PC for the stop was held up, documentation was good. But the judge dropped all the charges and he was only charged for 12500 VC- Unlicensed Driver. And to top it all off, he was here in this country illegally and there wasn't even an INS hold. at: That was one of two cases I had that really changed my view on the justice system and how you really don't know how things will play out in court.
Could go the other way too. A guy here in North Texas got in a bar fight knocked the other guy down and then kick him in the side of the head with a cowboy boot. The kick killed the other guy. The original charge was something to the effect of manslaughter but was later upgraded to first degree murder. So really there's just no telling what's going to happen. It's not what the police book him on that counts so much as what the DA formally charges him with and even then, the judge will have something to say about all of it and this is all before plea deals and juries come into the picture.
Thanks Steve. Sometimes I wonder if I really do make a difference. This thing has hit me hard. He was my star pupil. Abner
Thanks Norcal and Cajun. I have a feeling he is going to serve a long sentence. I would also like to state that I do not condone what my pupil has done. A few of my pupils went on to become police officers. Do either of you know if there is some kind of distance learning for prisoners. I know there is, but I am wondering if they can do some kind of prison job in return for education? Abner
This is borderline outside of my knowledge area since I've never worked the courts and have never bailed anyone out before but given the amount, this seems steep for an assault charge (read "bad"). It means that the kid will need to have someone put up $75,000 in collateral for a bondsman to get him out while he waits for trial. Likely they'll have to pay the bondsman about $7,500 in fees to boot and God help the kid if he tries to skip out on bond...it gets really ugly at that point. That kind of bail to me indicates the court might think he's a flight risk and he might be.
Really I have no idea. Keep in mind that I usually don't follow what happens to the suspect in terms of charges and bail. Either they enter a plea and I never hear about them again on that particular case, or I get called to court. I was never one of those officer's who follow-up and keep tabs after court; either our paths cross again or they don't, I really don't care either way. At the risk of sounding too sour, its just a job and I don't get to wrapped up in it and I almost never take the job home with me. Sorry to hear about your friend, it sucks, but don't beat yourself up over it. People make their own choices. Its not easy to deal with it, but some things are out or your control.
The only person I know of who had an assault charge on him was a fist fight in a high school parking lot. Bail was set at $3,000 but then both parties were arrested, neither fought the cops, no weapons involved, just black eyes and bloody noses schoolyard type crap. So yeah...comparatively speaking $75,000 seems high. But like Norcal said...I never kept up with any of that stuff.
