Fighter charged by court with using hands as deadly weapons
Assistant DA: “It’s pretty unusual, but in this instance – because he is an MMA fighter – we thought it was appropriate to charge his hands as deadly weapons”
It is an old and enduring myth, maintained by decades of ads in the back of comic books – a martial arts expert has to register his hands as deadly weapons with local law enforcement. However, British Columbia litigation lawyer, combat sports law consultant, and deeply appreciated UGer Erik Magraken reports that a featherweight fighter In Texas was actually charged with it.
It is reported that authorities Tarrant County, Texas recently charged a man with MMA training with assault with a deadly weapon. The deadly weapon in question escalating the charge to aggravated assault? His hands.
Assistant District Attorney Bill Vassar is quoted as follows with respect to designating the hands of a martial artist as ‘deadly weapons’ – It’s pretty unusual, but in this instance — because he is an MMA fighter — we thought it was appropriate to charge his hands as deadly weapons
The Defendant, Jamual Parks, reportedly plead guilty to the charge and was sentenced to six years in prison.
The guilty plea avoids any judicial scrutiny of whether hands can be considered a ‘weapon’, an argument that stretches the imagination as a weapon, by definition, is likely intended to require something external from the human body. Texas’ penal code defines deadly weapon as follows –
(A) a firearm or anything manifestly designed, made, or adapted for the purpose of inflicting death or serious bodily injury; or
(B) anything that in the manner of its use or intended use is capable of causing death or serious bodily injury.
Arguably trained hands can meet the broad definition under sub-paragraph B but I suspect a Court would have little difficulty in ruling that hands are not a thing which presumably references an external device of some kind.
