[celts32]

Originally Posted by Ramseyfan

Here is what the Florida Statutes say about assault and aggravated assault:

784.011 Assault
(1) An "assault" is an intentional, unlawful threat by word or act to do violence to the person of another, coupled with an apparent ability to do so, and doing some act which creates a well-founded fear in such other person that such violence is imminent.

(2) Whoever commits an assault shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.


784.021 Aggravated assault (What Taylor has been charged with):

(1) An "aggravated assault" is an assault:

(a) With a deadly weapon without intent to kill; or

(b) With an intent to commit a felony.

Based on the "facts" known to us at this time, Taylor is being charged under 784.021 (1)(a). To prove that Taylor is guilty, the State would need to show:
(1) that Taylor brandished a firearm
(2) that Taylor threatened (by word or act) to do harm to the victim
(3) that the victim saw, or knew of, the firearm and reasonably percieved a threat to his person.

The hurdles in convicting Taylor of the above-referenced charge are (1) proving that Taylor brandished a weapon and (2) that Taylor brandished the weapon in connection with threatening acts or words. If the only witnesses to the "incident" are Taylor, his friend, and the victim(s), it comes down to "he said," "she said." It's hard to get a conviction based solely on the testimony of the alleged victim - especially IF that victim is a "shady character" who might have recently taken part in another crime.

A jury MIGHT be sympathetic to Taylor - who just had possessions taken from him and used a firearm when confronting the people who had just stolen property from Taylor.

Moreover, Taylor's "self-defense" claim could be that he was looking for his stolen property, he knew that he might run into the people who stole it, and oftentimes such criminals are armed - so he took along a weapon.

Based on what I currently know, my guess is this that due to the aforementioned hurdles the DA will need to jump to get a felony conviction, the parties will be plead down to Assault (as opposed to Aggravated Assault) - which is a misdemeanor. But, it's too early to tell.

This is nice work...your title should be changed to Legal Expert.