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-The most common defense in a battery case,
and one that we've had a great deal of success with,
is self-defense.
California law gives you an absolute right
to defend yourself and to defend other people if you or they are
under a threat of violent harm.
So if somebody charges you, if they attack you,
if they start throwing punches at you,
you have an absolute right to fight back.
Now, there is a caveat here that comes up in a lot of cases,
and that is that the law makes a distinction
between self-defense and what is often called "mutual combat."
And I'll give you an example.
Suppose I have an enemy named Tommy, and Tommy
and I want to fight each other.
So we get on the phone, and we say,
you know what, let's meet behind the liquor
store in the alley at 10 o'clock and just duke it out.
And I show up at 10 o'clock and so does Tommy,
and we get into a fight.
Now, in that situation, it's technically not self-defense.
It's more in the nature of mutual combat
because I wanted to fight Tommy.
I helped to initiate the violence.
On the other hand, suppose I'm walking down the street
and Tommy approaches me from behind
and starts swinging at me, so I turn around
and start swinging at him and knock him down, in that case,
it's not mutual combat.
It's a clear case of self-defense.