Utah Criminal Code 76-5-204: Death Of Other Than Intended Victim No Defense And the conduct is a reasonable response to the circumstances as the person perceives them. A person faced with a threat and acting in the heat of the moment is not expected to weigh the exact measure of force that is appropriate to use in self-defense. Rather, the law allows for a person to use a degree of force that is proportionate to the threat being faced as the person perceives it at the time. In other words, the response is to be assessed based on the circumstances as they appeared at the time of the act and not with the benefit of hindsight. Once the defense of self-defense is raised, the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused was not acting in self-defense. It is not up to the defense to prove that the accused was acting in self-defense. If the possibility that the offence was committed in self-defense cannot be excluded, the accused must be found not guilty. For self-defense to be raised there must be sufficient evidence to support a reasonable doubt in the mind of the judge or jury that the prosecution has excluded self-defense. A defendant raising self-defense does not have to give evidence in their defense but the evidence must be such that self-defense is fairly raised. If a defendant does not raise self-defense, the judge can still leave the question of self-defense to the jury to determine if it is appropriate in the circumstances. Defense of property Similarly, the defense of intoxication also relies on the theory that the defendant cannot meet all of the elements of the crime because he or she did not understand what he or she was doing. If a defendant is involuntarily intoxicated, this can be a defense to both general and specific intent crimes under the theory that the intoxication prevents the defendant from understanding right and wrong. Voluntary intoxication is also a defense, but only to specific intent crimes when the defendant argues that his or her intoxication prevented him or her from forming the intent necessary for the crime. Finally, a criminal defendant may be able to argue mistake of law/mistake of fact. Under this defense, the defendant made a fundamental mistake that negates an element of the crime. For instance, a defendant charged with larceny may argue that he mistakenly believed that the victim had given him the property. Similarly, mistake of law applies when a criminal defendant believed his or her actions were lawful. This defense applies in only very limited circumstances. Assault and Battery Although someone may kill someone in self defense, this type of killing is not considered a crime like manslaughter or murder is. The American justice system recognizes the right of someone to protect himself or herself from harm. In order for a self defense to apply, the defendant must have believed that he or she was in imminent danger of harm and that the use and degree of force that he or she used was reasonably necessary to protect his or her safety or that of a third person. Different states have different guidelines regarding the application of self defense. For example, some states impose a duty to retreat on the defendant in which he or she must first attempt to get away from the source of danger before exerting force in order to assert this defense. Other states only permit someone not to retreat if he or she was in his or her own home at the time of the attack. Other factors may be relevant in the application of this defense, such as who the initial aggressor, who escalated a dispute was and whether the defendant was engaged in criminal activity at the time that he or she asserts the defense. Another possibility is that someone may commit an accidental killing. If his or her behavior did not rise to a criminal level, he or she cannot be held criminally responsible. However, there may still be civil liability if the conduct was negligent but not criminally negligent. In this case, a person may be sued for causing the death of someone else. As a general rule, self-defense only justifies the use of force when it is used in response to an immediate threat. The threat can be verbal, as long as it puts the intended victim in an immediate fear of physical harm. Offensive words without an accompanying threat of immediate physical harm, however, do not justify the use of force in self-defense. Moreover, the use of force in self-defense generally loses justification once the threat has ended. For example, if an aggressor assaults a victim but then ends the assault and indicates that there is no longer any threat of violence, then the threat of danger has ended. Any use of force by the victim against the assailant at that point would be considered retaliatory and not self-defense. Sometimes self-defense is justified even if the perceived aggressor didn’t actually mean the perceived victim any harm. What matters in these situations is whether a reasonable person in the same situation would have perceived an immediate threat of physical harm. The concept of the reasonable person is a legal conceit that is subject to differing interpretations in practice, but it is the legal system’s best tool to determine whether a person’s perception of imminent danger justified the use of protective force. Free Initial Consultation with LawyerIt’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when. Legal problems come to everyone. Whether it’s your son who gets in a car wreck, your uncle who loses his job and needs to file for bankruptcy, your sister’s brother who’s getting divorced, or a grandparent that passes away without a will -all of us have legal issues and questions that arise. So when you have a law question, call Ascent Law for your free consultation (801) 676-5506. We want to help you!
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