Assault charges were dismissed against a client who confronted the person who had been harassing, humiliating, and stalking her transgender son. A review of the harasser’s anti-trans social media posts and corroboration by my client’s son of the ongoing harassment led to the dismissal.
Harassment of vulnerable young people can’t be tolerated and I credit my client for protecting her son. The harassment stopped after the confrontation but my client faced criminal charges. While the legal system is far from perfect, it is the better way to deal with people harassing and intimidating the people you love. My client will call the police and me if anything like this happens again.
“Defense of another” is an off-shoot of self-defense. Like self-defense, one can only raise defense of another to justify what would otherwise be criminal actions when there is immediate necessity. If there is an attack or fear of an imminent attack, and there is no way to protect that person except through use force, then the minimum force can be used to protect that person. A person cannot lawfully act in self-defense or defense of another when it is being done to ward off future problems.