Mclver rented a room in his mobile home to Beal. One evening while Mclver and Be
ID: 394431 • Letter: M
Question
Mclver rented a room in his mobile home to Beal. One evening while Mclver and Beal were drinking- ing, they got into a heated argument, and Melver ordered Beal to vacate the premises immediately When Beal refused, Mclver called the police. Before the police arrived, Beal decided to leave but was prevented from doing so when Melver pulled out a pitchfork. To defend himself, Beal picked up a nearby machete, and he and Mclver battled each other until Mclver ended up on the floor. Beal then vacated the building. However, in the process, he fell over and was once more attacked by the pitchfork-wielding Mclver. At that moment, the police arrived and took Beal away. Beal was charged with assault. Beal argued that he was simply defending himself from Mclver's attack. Is Beal correct? State V Beal (2007 WL 3431, Ct. App., N.C 2007)
Explanation / Answer
In this specific case Beal is definitely correct as he uses the Deadly force to confront the Deadly force used by the opposition. In such a special situation he does not initiated the contact and has a proper right to be in the location that is involved and also there is no duty of retreat from the other party directly imposing the threat on Beal.
By looking at the above factors we can easily said that Beal is correct and used his actions in self defence rather than using it as an offensive tool.