• Arghblarg@lemmy.ca
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      3 months ago

      … and can the police officer who LIED (perjured himself) when saying the sandwich “exploded all over” be privately charged if the court won’t do it themselves?

    • Zak@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      He probably can’t. Absurd as it may sound, he was actually guilty.

      Here are model jury instructions for the charge, which include:

      There is a forcible assault when one person intentionally strikes another

      It doesn’t say that the victim must be struck with something very likely to injure them. Looking at the statute, it turns out that actual physical contact (rather than making a threat without contact) elevates it to a felony - the charge a grand jury previously rejected.

      Of course, prosecutors normally apply common sense to charging decisions and don’t prosecute everything that technically qualifies under the strictest reading of a statute.