Can a person be convicted of felonious assault with a suspected weapon?
I wanted to know if a person can actually be convicted of having and using a weapon if they only 'suspect' not know for certain?
Answer:
All elements of a crime must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt to sustain a conviction, but proof can be by circumstantial evidence.
For example, if the evidence shows that the victim was hit by a tire iron, but no such weapon is found. if there is sufficient evidence that you committed the assault generally, the jury can infer that given you did the assault, and given the injuries were caused by a tire iron, you must have used that as the weapon.
But that's like assuming it snowed last night because today there is snow on the ground and yesterday there wasn't. It's sufficiently obvious (res ipsa loquitor) to be accepted without direct observation of the fact.
Other than that, all elements of the crime must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. If the prosecution can only prove you committed an assault, but cannot prove that you used a weapon, then they can't tack on the weapon enhancement.
It will be up the jury to determine if the evidence is strong enough. Circumstantial evidence of the use of a weapon, based on the nature of the injuries, or threats to deploy the weapon, will support a verdict that there was indeed a weapon. In most states, almost anything can be a deadly weapon if it can be used as a bludgeon and used to hit someone.
Ya, i think. But they fist would have to be accused, and then evidentuary support, would have to be found to support the "claim" that the weapon in question, not only is the right weapon, but also, the person who has the weapon, was the same perosn who commited the crime, which would be really hard to do. I'm 14yrs old, and want to b a lawyer really bad, and watch law shows, so thats where i get all this info:)
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