Defense of Property – Charged with Assault
Charged with a crime for defending your property? Call criminal lawyer, Aaron J. Boria (734) 453-7806 for a free consultation.
Defense of Property – Assault and Battery
Jason Chan is the co-owner of the restaurant, Juno. While Jason was at the restaurant he observed what he thought was a shady looking character come into the restaurant and head over to the bar.
Jason could see the man speaking to the bartender who handed the man a pen and napkin. The man then put the pen and napkin in his pocket and quickly left the bar. Jason went over to a customer who was near the shady character at the bar and asked if he still had his phone, the customer told Jason it was missing.
The customer went to the police to make a report. Jason got into his car and drove around looking for the man, and he found him. The man was at a pizza joint and Jason could see him trying to repeat the same theft there at the bar.
Jason confronted him, the man tried to leave, and Jason knocked him into a door. When the man tried to fight back Jason put him in an arm bar and knocked him out with a kick to the face.
Jason held the man until the police came who charged the man with larceny.
Larceny
In Michigan, larceny is grouped with theft crimes. Because the value of an iPhone is under $1,000.00 it is likely that the man would be charged with misdemeanor larceny.
If the perp stole both phones it is possible that he could be charged with two counts of larceny or the prosecutor could add the value of both phones together to charge the person with a felony for stealing items exceeding $1,000.00.
The maximum possible penalty would be up to a year in the county jail, and a hefty fine or three times the value of the item stolen.
Assault and Battery
It is possible that some prosecutors would charge or police would issue a ticket for assault and battery to Jason.
While that may not seem ethical to many of our readers it is very possible. There is a public interest in preventing things from becoming the wild wild west where citizens dispense vigilantly justice and go around fighting each other. At the same time the media may have gotten a hold of this case early enough to prevent Jason from being charged with a bogus assault and battery charge for helping out his fellow man.
Assault and batter is a 93 day misdemeanor with a find of up to $500 as long as a weapon wasn’t used and there isn’t a substantial injury.
Defense of Property
The law in Michigan does allow you to protect your belongings. Under the law you may use reasonable force to protect your belonging from someone that has no right to them.
In this case Jason could argue that he was stepping into the shoes of the rightful owner of the phone and was defending their property.
Defense of property is a factual defense so the defense would have to be presented to a jury to decide. If a jury feels that Jason did not exceed the force necessary to do so then he should be found not guilty of assault.
Michigan Assault Lawyer
If you have been charged with assault and battery contact Michigan assault lawyer, Aaron J. Boria today for a free consultation. (734) 453-7806.
