Legal question - important - is a cast on an arm considered a deadly weapon???

Question

Last night, my fiance got knocked out by a guy with a cast on, and hit in the head several times with it. After he was on the ground knocked out he continued to stomp on my fiances face. And the fight was on this other guys property. He came out with a gun pointed to my fiances face. Well after some friends got this guy off my fiance he came at me in the street (not on his property) and started to choke me. When he pointed the gun in my fiances face I took a gun out of my car and put it in my jacket pocket. Well when this guy attacked me and started to choke me I put the gun to his head and it shot of once in the air and then hit my friend in his belt buckle. Thank god it was a 22 and he had a belt buckle on. Hes fine. So I went to jail after eeryone protested and said that I did it in complete self defense, and was not on his property. I was arrested and Imout now, and were now hearing that if you hit someone with a cast on your arm, its assualt with a deadly weapon? true??

And also Ive been told that this guy can get me with attempted murder? True? It was complete self defense. And yes, my fiance was on his property but I was not. And yes I am getting a good lawyer. I guess I just need an answer as to what is most likely going to happen. Thanks everyone.


NO STUPID/RUDE ANSWERS.

Answer 1

You might have a case for self defense based on 1) the fact that he was choking you and people have died from being choked, as long as you did nothing to provoke his attack, (words don't count), 2) HE had demonstrated a propensity towards violence by assaulting your fiance after your fiance was unconscious, (as soon as your fiance was unconscious there was no longer a threat, and so that is when the self-defence ended and the assault began), 3) He committed an unprovoked assault against you, attempting to use deadly force by strangling you, while in possession of a weapon with which he could continue the murder attempt if you did get away from his initial murder attempt.

Answer 2

A cast is a deadly weapon, as is just about anything besides your fists. Your actions COULD be considered self-defense, but not automatically so. You have a duty to remove yourself from a dangerous situation before employing deadly force. Protecting your boyfriend could be considered a mitigating circumstance, though. It doesn't matter whether you were on his property or not, that is completely irrelevant. Your case should come out OK, certainly no jail time even if you are convicted of a crime.

EDIT: As to the guy who made the distinction between brute and deadly force, he is only partially right. If you have a reasonable fear (a fear that an ordinary, reasonable person might also have) that your life was in jeopardy, then deadly force is justified, regardless of the means that your attacker employs. In other words, you aren't required to be choked to death while you have a handgun in your pocket simply because he didn't use a similar weapon to kill you. Reasonable fear of death is sufficient to employ deadly force.

Answer 3

all depends on the state you live in and what their laws are

but generally yes you have a problem due to the equal or lesser force law

if the courts define a cast as a deadly weapon and he used it on you then you have the right to defend with deadly force however you said he tried to choke you so he wasn't using the cast therefore it is irrelevant you used deadly force while he was using brute force

you can't say you were protecting your fiance either because you didn't shoot until after he tried to choke you therefore he had already left your fiance and was no longer a threat

and by putting the gun in your pocket now its intent however
ther were two guns involved and he pulled his first theres one consideration
two you were at his house your fiance was on his property and you were with your fiance which means you both were at his house you are now the instigators (guilt by association)
three he can't get you for attempted murder you didn't shoot him or at him intentionally however your friend can bring up charges against you
for to be considered a deadly weapon it has to be something used with the intent or given intent to kill
given intent= knife gun etc.
with the intent = baseball bat-- cast-- tire iron but brought out with the intent to end an others life not merely subdue.
five he can claim he was in fear of his life due to the fact that you came to his house started trouble had a gun (no matter when you pulled it out) there where more than one of you possibly three ( which by federal law gives him the right to kill one maim one and hurt one)( i know thats why I'm not in prison) so him pulling the gun could be found justifiable just as using his cast as a weapon.

basically there are a lot of variable here and I hope you can get a very good lawyer.

Answer 4

It can be. Deadly weapons are not clasified by their identity, but rather, how they were used. More specifically, did the person using the supposed "deadly weapon" either intend to kill or show depraved indifference (know death was possibility and not care.)

Guns always considered deadly weapons. Almost anything else of reason may be as well, if above criteria are met.

Answer 5

A general rule of law is that a deadly weapon is any thing that can cause "great injury or death..." Since a block of plaster weighing in some cases two or three pounds certainly appears to meet those criteria, my answer would be yes.