Not Guilty Jury Verdict For Man Defending His Wife

This morning, a jury returned a verdict of NOT GUILTY at the 52-2 District Court in Clarkston, Michigan, for a man that had been charged with Assault and Battery. 

On March 2, 2013, around midnight, our client was at O’Brady’s bar in White Lake MI. Our client was with a group of his friends playing pool and having a good time. While they were there they began to intermingle with another group of people. At some point the conversation between the groups went south and two individuals started arguing.

At the end of the night everyone began to clear out of the bar. Both groups were in the parking lot of the bar. An individual we will refer to as the Complainant grabbed our client’s wife. This was the same individual that got into an argument inside the bar with our client’s friend. The wife screamed, “LET GO!” and tried to pull her arm away but Complainant wouldn’t let go.  Our client heard his wife screaming for help, and when he turned around he saw her being abused. Our client immediately came to her rescue and punched Complainant who then let go.

Our client then moved his wife over to their car where she would be safe. While he was moving her away from the Complainant the Complainant tried to come after our client. That’s when our client’s buddy tackled Complainant and the two fought.

The next day our client was contacted and told that the police were looking to speak with him. On his own, he drove up to the police station and voluntarily spoke with the police officer and told him what happened. The police officer charged him with the crime of assault and battery on the spot without even talking to his wife or the friend that got into the scrap. 

Michigan Assault Lawyer

The prosecutors refused to drop the case and so we proceeded to trial. The jurors in this case came back quickly with a verdict of Not Guilty to the charge of assault and battery. They saw the truth, that our client was defending his wife.

Defense of Others

Under Michigan law, it is legal to defend yourself or another person and so long as the person acting in the defense of another does so lawfully then a jury must find the person not guilty.

Michigan Criminal Lawyer