Self-defense law

You have the right to use self-defense to defend yourself. You also have the responsibility to know how to use that right.

Learning the right way to handle a self-defense situation can mean the difference between (1) walking away, (2) being charged and going through the criminal process from plea offers and whether to go to trial, and (3) spending days to years locked up, away from family, friends, and job.

Where do you want to sleep the night after you defend yourself?

• Probably not in a jail cell waiting to be arraigned in the morning.
• Probably not talking to police officers who are tag-team interrogating you in a little room with a closed door.
• Probably not wondering where your family is going to stay the night and whether they are in the same post-traumatic state as you.

When police use force their department provides them a lawyer. Get a criminal defense attorney to help. Don’t try it alone!

Police and the news will ask, “What happened?”

Self-Defense means having to explain yourself over and over.

What you do before the event matters.  What you do during the event matters. What you do after the event matters.

Know exactly what matters in the law.  Take a self-defense class taught by a lawyer to keep you out of prison.

If you are already in trouble, hire a lawyer to manage your situation with the police, the media, and prosecutors.

Self-defense is not easy

You need someone who you know is on your side.  You need to learn to protect yourself from the criminal justice system. Mark S. Solomon can help you to help yourself by teaching you what to do.

After using force in self-defense, you will be talking to the police. The police’s job is to investigate crime and charge people when appropriate. When talking to the police after using force in self-defense, you need to remember that they are not just trying to figure out what happened for their report.  The police are investigating a possible crime, and everyone involved is a suspect. Everyone.