1839 S. Alma School Road
Suite 264
Mesa, Arizona 85210
(480) 374-8747
(602) 357-8606 (espanol)
177 N. Church Ave
Suite 312
Tucson, AZ 85701
(520) 468-6668
(602) 357-8606(espanol)

An Example of the Defense Used for an Aggravated Assault Charge

(The content below was transcribed from an interview done with Acacia Law. We think you'll find it much easier
and more enjoyable to read this way.)

Interviewer: I want to give people an idea of how you defend cases and what are some of the results that you've been able to obtain. Tell me about a favorite case of yours that was either really difficult or unusual in the defense you came up with, and what transpired while it was being tried.

Acacia Law: Oh, I'll be glad to. There are so many cases that come to mind. I could probably rattle off 50 cases that personally, in my opinion, I've been told by other people they don't know anyone else that could have pulled it off. And I'm not saying that to brag, I'm just saying I was able to obtain some very good results.

One case that I took to trial, which was an interesting case, involved my client who was a Hispanic young man who was accosted by a larger white man. These were both between the ages of approximately 19 and 22. They were all at a house party. The big white man, with a couple of friends, was making racial comments, nothing extremely aggressive, but still making my client feel extremely nervous.

What happened was that when my client was ready to leave, the other man stood in the doorway and he had a beer bottle in his hand. My client actually wasn't sure what this guy’s intentions were, but given the aggressiveness that he had experienced through him all night, he took out a butterfly knife, which is a very common instrument to have. Many teenagers possess knives. They have become a common weapon used in defense. This is because guns, as opposed to knives, can cause much more harm and can get you into trouble. With knives, somebody has to be in close proximity to you in order to be within close quarters enough to use the knife.

In any event, he was trying to get through the door. Apparently this other man was not making it easy, and my client didn't know what to do or what this guy might do. So, he took out his butterfly knife and he stabbed him in the chest. He collapsed his lung. Fortunately, he did this in front of 21 witnesses.

Interviewer: I see.

Acacia Law: So, he was charged with aggravated assault. They could have charged it as attempted murder, but because he only stabbed him once and then left the scene, they decided to treat it as an aggravated assault.

The problem is on that type of case, especially with a severe injury since the guy's lung was collapsed, they had to call in MedEvac and they had to have him extracted by helicopter.

They basically were looking at 5 to 15 years as an appropriate sentence and his offer was a minimum of 5 years. So I took the case to trial. During the trial, I had 21 witnesses to examine. I had probably 9 police officers that I also had to examine. I had the victim himself, his family, and medical personnel. But at the conclusion of the trial, after probably about 3 weeks of cross-examining everybody, instead of the case looking like a kid who was trying to be tough who just stabbed a guy on a whim, the jury determined that it was a racial issue. They found that the man who initiated it - I'm not saying he got what he deserved - but he put the other person, in this case, my client, in unreasonable apprehension.

So they acquitted him on the aggravated assault. All they found him guilty of was a misdemeanor for disorderly conduct.

Interviewer: That is a great result for your client.

Acacia Law: So that’s one case that was tough, but fairly well known at the time.