This story should produce some interesting commentary.

CLEVELAND — A convicted felon who was caught on body camera punching his attorney has been found not guilty in the attack.

The incident happened in February when 42-year-old David Chislton learned he would spend nearly 50 years behind bars for arson and domestic violence.

He lashed out at his attorney, Aaron Brockler, who suffered a concussion and broken nose. The incident was captured on a Cuyahoga County Sheriff's deputy's body camera.

Chislton was acquitted of felonious assault in the attack. His new attorney argued the injuries Brockler sustained did not rise to the level of serious physical harm.

"People think they can get away with treating their attorneys like this and showing that disrespect. It was just a broken nose, but there's a lot more collateral damage that a situation like that causes," Brockler said.

The incident also raised concerns about courtroom safety. Chislton was handcuffed in the front, not in the back, which is typical.

LINK: https://wgntv.com/2019/10/24/d...uilty-in-the-attack/

Sounds like the DA did a piss poor job on jury selection.

BTW, somebody should give the criminal's new attorney a broken nose and concussion

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
Sounds like the DA did a piss poor job on jury selection.

Sounds like the DA did a piss poor job on charge selection.

If it wasn't serious enough to qualify as felonious assault per Ohio statute, he should have charged him with a lesser offense.

Per the statute, felonious assault requires "serious physical harm", which is defined in the code as:

quote:

(a) Any mental illness or condition of such gravity as would normally require hospitalization or prolonged psychiatric treatment;

(b) Any physical harm that carries a substantial risk of death;

(c) Any physical harm that involves some permanent incapacity, whether partial or total, or that involves some temporary, substantial incapacity;

(d) Any physical harm that involves some permanent disfigurement or that involves some temporary, serious disfigurement;

(e) Any physical harm that involves acute pain of such duration as to result in substantial suffering or that involves any degree of prolonged or intractable pain.

Sounds like the scrotebag's attorney successfully argued that a broken nose and concussion didn't fit any of the above criteria, which I would probably agree with. (Except perhaps that a broken nose could conceivably cause "prolonged pain", depending on how badly it was broken and how long it took to heal.)

It was clearly simple Assault, which per Ohio statute only requires "physical harm" (defined as any injury, illness, or other physiological impairment, regardless of its gravity or duration). That would have been a slam-dunk case. But the prosecutor tried to go big, and lost.


See the recent thread from a few hours ago on Tire Rotations and Negligence vs. Fraud in Michigan. Attorney tried to go big and argue Fraud, and lost. If he had been more conservative and simply gone with Negligence, he would have easily won.

Court is now in session in the Octagon of Justice.

If the assaulted attorney didn't release his medical records or testified (which the article doesn't say), it would be tough for the Prosecutor to prove serious physical injury. The end of the day all the Prosecutor had was video which wasn't enough.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
Sounds like the DA did a piss poor job on jury selection.

Sounds like the DA did a piss poor job on charge selection.

If it wasn't serious enough to qualify as felonious assault per Ohio statute, he should have charged him with a lesser offense.

Broken noses and especially a concussion are pretty damn serious. Ever heard of TBI?

I definitely would have drawn on him if not somewhere with 5 deputies to restrain him.

quote:

2903.11 Felonious assault.



(A)No personshall knowingly do either of the following:

(1)Cause serious physical harm to another or to another's unborn;

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
Broken noses and especially a concussion are pretty damn serious. Ever heard of TBI?

He didn't have a TBI. He just had a concussion.

Read the statutory definition of "serious physical harm" that I posted above. A concussion and broken nose apparently don't fit that criteria.

Or at least the Prosecutor did a poor job of convincing the jury that a concussion and broken nose fit that criteria.

I’ll go out on a limb and suggest that the result of that case is about 10% of what went on behind the scenes.

For the record, concussions quite often lead to TBI, not that that is necessarily the case here.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
Broken noses and especially a concussion are pretty damn serious. Ever heard of TBI?

He didn't have a TBI. He just had a concussion.

Read the statutory definition of "serious physical harm" that I posted above. A concussion and broken nose apparently don't fit that criteria, at least to the members of the jury.

Your google-fu is better than mine, I did not find that part. If that is the case Aggravated or Simple I guess.

Simple, yes.

Aggravated, no. That requires serious physical harm, under the same criteria as Felonious, or physical harm inflicted with a deadly weapon.

(And no, unlike Chuck Norris, the guys' hands weren't registered with the State as deadly weapons. )

I dunno if the case could have been made for “(b) Any physical harm that carries a substantial risk of death;“, given that plenty of folks have died from being punched in the noggin. If it could have, the DA either didn’t, or didn’t do a good enough job of it.

I think everyone is entitled to strike their attorney at least once a case.

When I was a young attorney, a more seasoned attorney told me "for $650 an hour, they can beat me with a stick." I wonder if his view would be different now that clients ARE beating lawyers. I also wonder in this case if the aforementioned lawyer would give a discount because no stick was used. Probably not...

Go back to the beginning. Maybe the prosecutor and the attorney don't like each other. Or, what's to be gained since the idiot is already serving up to 50 years?

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
I think everyone is entitled to strike their attorney at least once a case.

Who needs a case?

quote:

Chislton was handcuffed in the front, not in the back, which is typical.

Which is typical? The front or the back?

“Which is typical? The front or the back?”


Back when arrested, but once in control/jail and transport to the courthouse, they get a waist chain and cuffed in the front, depending on how much slack was in the waist chain, a prisoner could have a lot of movement.

HA! good story. Personally I have known some attorneys, had they been mine, I would have hit them also.

Tail end of my time at the Public Defender's office I would get the files after the client attacked their first public defender. I never had an issue.

quote:

Originally posted by KevinCW:

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
I think everyone is entitled to strike their attorney at least once a case.

Who needs a case?

Fair enough, I was just trying to keep this 'civilized', but I forgot we are dealing with attorneys!

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:

quote:

Chislton was handcuffed in the front, not in the back, which is typical.

Which is typical? The front or the back?

front with a waist chain or belt is typical for a courtroom. Behind the back for an arrest or use of force