You can get charged for defending yourself. Suppose your girlfriend or boyfriend gets upset with you. You want to leave and they block the door, so you grab them by the arms and move them to the side, leaving bruises on their arms. You commit the offense of family violence when you cause injury to a family member. Therefore, you’ve just committed a class “a” misdemeanor. However, you’re entitled to use force when someone else is using unlawful force.
When the other person is preventing you from leaving then they are using unlawful force. You might not be able to convince a law enforcement officer of this at the scene, though. The cops have other issues like separating the parties and, frankly, they may not believe you. This is particularly true if you have any prior criminal history. That’s why it’s important to hire an experienced attorney to represent you.
At Austin Criminal Defense Attorney, I can tell your story to the prosecutor. I can look into the other person’s history and see if they’ve done this before. In a worst case scenario, we can tell your story to a jury. Give my firm a call today at (888) 492-2612 to schedule a free case consultation.