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A person can actually pursue their attacker until the danger has passed and use a reasonable amount of force to defend themselves, others, or even their property.
My name is William Pernick. I’m a criminal defense attorney and the founder of the Pernick Law Firm. Here with me is Sarah Schumacher, a senior attorney at our firm.
In today’s video, we’re going to discuss important rules of self-defense, defense of others, and defense of property. Please watch to the end of this video, because at the very end, we’re going to share with you a short list of rules and things you can commit to memory to make sure that if you are ever in danger—or if someone you care about, such as a friend, loved one, child, or even a stranger is in danger, or if your property is at risk—you will know what the law actually is and the circumstances under which force can be used to protect someone else, yourself, or your property.
What Is Self-Defense?
William: Sarah, I don’t know about you, but I love a good self-defense case. It seems there is something so basic in the concept of self-defense. If somebody is in danger—if somebody is in fear of being harmed, of being threatened with bodily injury or death—it just seems so right, so natural, that a person should be able to use force to protect themselves, protect somebody else, and perhaps even protect their property.
Sarah: That’s right. A person does have a right to use self-defense to protect themselves, others, and sometimes their property.
What we want to do in this video is talk with you about how you can legally establish a claim of self-defense in your criminal case.
Avoid Using Force
Often, people believe that if you can avoid using force to protect yourself, you absolutely should do so. This belief is so common that, during jury selection, potential jurors often tell courts, “Hey, I think if this defendant could have avoided the situation where somebody got hurt, injured, or killed, they should have done so.”
But that is not the law.
No Duty to Retreat
In the state of California, a person has no duty to retreat when using self-defense. In fact, a person even has the legal right to pursue their attacker until the danger has passed.
You have a right to use self-defense lawfully if you are in imminent fear of being touched unlawfully, of being injured, or if you have an imminent belief that somebody else is going to be hurt.
Self-defense is a powerful defense against many crimes. It applies as a defense against assault. It applies as a defense against battery. It even applies as a defense in domestic violence cases, including situations where you are using force to defend yourself against your spouse.
Gender and Self-Defense
Even if you are a man defending yourself against a woman, self-defense may still apply under the right circumstances.
In our society, many people believe that a man never has the right to use force against a woman. That’s simply not the case under the law. Often, in domestic violence cases, we see situations where a man is charged with committing a domestic violence offense, only for it to turn out that the woman was actually the initial aggressor.
Under the law, a man can use reasonable force to defend himself against a woman. Gender is not mentioned anywhere in the self-defense laws. Every person has the right to use self-defense.
