Practice Areas

Blog

Legal News

Library

Case Results

DISCLAIMER: Please note that every case is different and these verdicts and settlements, while accurate, do not represent what we may obtain for you in your case.

Prince George Judge Finds Man Not Guilty of Malicious Wounding Charge

On Wednesday, February 11th, a circuit court judge in Prince George County found one of my clients not guilty of any crime in one of the more bizarre cases I have been involved in during my 25 years of practice.  Not often does the victim of a crime get arrested.

My client was charged with malicious wounding in July. The incident occured roughly four weeks before when he was accosted by two drunken men on a public road late at night, one of whom began kicking his car, causing substantial damage to it.  When the man failed to stop his actions, my client knocked him out with a single punch of his bare fist, then left the scene to telephone the police to report the incident. 

He and a witness gave the police their statement within an hour of the incident, and no charges were filed at that time. Police later took the statement of the other man (who was hospitalized with a broken jaw), and the man's cohort. No charges were brought against my client after the police concluded their job.

Apparently unsatisfied that my client would not be charged by the police, the man went to a magistrate stating that he had been "pistol-whipped" and sustained a broken jaw. He made no mention of the fact that he was drunk, that he had been damaging the client's car, and that the police already had investigated the case.

My client was served the arrest warrant at night and taken to jail. Because the charge was malicious wounding, the magistrate refused to set a bail amount, and he was held without bail until a court hearing could be scheduled. Unfortunately, due to a judicial conference, there were no judges in the county available to hear a bail hearing, and the Commonwealth's Attorney's office refused to scheule a bail hearing with another judge in the judicial circuit. As a result, my client served 7 days in jail before he could be released on bond, but at the request of the Commonwealth's Attorney, his release was conditioned on having a curfew.

At the preliminary hearing, the general district court judge reduced the charge from malicious wounding to unlawful wounding, having determined that the Commonwealth could not prove the malicious intent aspect required for the more serious charge. That charge was certified to the grand jury, which returned an indictment for a Class 6 felony unlawful wounding the next term.

The client did not testify at trial, and in fact, the defense offered no evidence at all, but rested its case. The reason behind this strategy was that when the Commonwealth rested its case -- and could put forth no other witnesses --  the defense made a motion to strike the evidence on grounds that the proof was insufficient to prove the elements of unlawful wounding beyond a reasonable doubt.

We pointed out to the court that during cross-examination of the Commonwealth's witnesses, we were able to demonstrate: 1) that only one punch was thrown with a bare fist and only after the complainant had refused to stop damaging the defendant's car; 2) that the credibility of the two witnesses called by the Commonwealth was unreliable because they had been drinking since mid-afternoon and were admittedly drunk at the time of the incident; and 3) that the complaining witness was untrustworthy as a witness because he admitted that he did substantial damage to the client's car -- the repair costs exceeded $2500.00 -- before he was hit, a fact that he came to disclose to the Commonwealth only after my client was arrested, and a key fact he said he did not mention to the police or to the magistrate because he feared being charged with destruction of property.

Based on these arguments, the court granted the motion to the extent that the sole felony count was dismissed, and the client was only facing a misdemeanor assault and battery charge -- a lesser included offense of unlawful wounding.

At the court's request, both sides then argued the law on what degree of force a person may legally employ to protect his property from damage at the hands of another. After hearing the legal arguments of both sides, the judge determined that non-lethal force could be used to protect one's property. Because the Commonwealth's evidence was that a single punch was thown, the court determined that the force used was not excessive, and found the client not guilty of assault and battery.

Mr. Stelly regularly appears in the courts of the City of Richmond, Henrico County, Chesterfield County, Goochland County, and Hanover County.

Free Reports

Free Case Evaluation

FAQs