Self Defense and the Use of Force

Even when you've acted in self defense, you'll end up in court if the other person has been badly hurt or killed. This will usually be a criminal action, where the authorities are not convinced you used minimum force, or maybe they don't believe you were attacked at all.

The other reason could be that you've hurt or disabled your attacker, the police were satisfied it was justified self defense, but now he's got himself a lawyer and he's using the courts to get back at you... It's possible.

The courts aren't interested in what's right or wrong. They only took at what 'The Law' says. And while it's slightly different in each state or country, it basically says you are allowed to defend yourself if you are in real danger, but you can use only the minimum force sufficient to stop your attacker.

Here's where the shades of gray come into it. It often becomes an argument in court whether:

(a) Were you really attacked, or did you over-react? Perhaps you just imagined it.

(b) And even if you were justified in reacting forcefully, did you use too much force to defend yourself?

For this reason, some self defense experts teach you to shout things at your attacker, so any witnesses can hear what you said and will remember it later.

You shout "Let Me Go!" or "Get Back! I have a (name your weapon) gun/tazer/pepper spray and I'll use it... Back Off, NOW!"

It is also good if your potential witnesses can hear phrases like, "Stop it! You're hurting me!" before you let loose at an attacker.

If you can actually find those witnesses afterwards, and that's a big "if", they can testify in your defense later. That will help convince the judge or the jury, for sure. But who says you'll be able to find them or that they'll want to get involved?

Otherwise, your biggest fight could well be in the courtroom.