There is an interesting case out of New Mexico where Jazmine Ortega, 20, is facing a charge of two counts of aggravated assault against a household member with a deadly weapon. The weapon was a kitchen fork and it does not appear that she actually stabbed her boyfriend in the attack.
Her boyfriend took Ortega to see a television fight at a bar and then a party for Ortega’s boss in their apartment complex. The two were fighting so the boyfriend left and locked himself in their bedroom back at their apartment. He said that he feared a physical attack and videotaped Ortega busting down the door in a rage. She then grabbed a fork off the floor as she began to hit her boyfriend.
It appears that she hit him with the hand holding the fork but did not stab him. He had “abrasions” after he threw her off him and both hit each other.
Even though the fork may not have been used to stab the boyfriend, she is still facing a third degree felony. My guess is that the videotape and a witness (in addition to the boyfriend) will make a plea likely. If so, she might be able to plead down to simple assault given the fact that the “deadly weapon” was a fork and does not appear to have been used to actually stab the boyfriend.
Normally, I would say that if there was no injury done, break up and walk away. Vote with your feet. It is highly unlikely that this would have been the first time this woman showed instability and rage issues. Show good judgement and leave. Don’t lock yourself in the bedroom out of fear of an assault by a deranged lady. Just be firm and leave.
However, in today’s day and age, there is the concern that she could file fabricated charges against him. This might have been preemptive.
Right. Next time I will read the embedded link in the post before commenting.
In Professor Turley’s link, it was Ortega who called 911 to summon deputies, after the boyfriend threw her off of him. She also called a neighbor to come to the fight.
I don’t know if the boyfriend pressed charges, or if the cops did from their observations. However, it was Ortega who called the police. She broke down the door, attacked him, and then called the cops on him.
It is dishonorable for a woman to hit a man who is barred by society from hitting her back. Men and women really are not equal in that regard. It is also reprehensible to attack a guy and then call the cops on him. What was her complaint? Did she try to pin the attack on him? He was smart to film the encounter.
What a mess. Break up with beastly partners. In addition, it must be such a drag to move in with someone you’re not married to. Marriage itself faces high risk of breaking up, but other relationships are even more so. On top of breaking up with someone, you’d have to pack your stuff, move out, find another apartment, get your deposit back…and otherwise disentangle your life. Who gets the TV and who gets the Blu-Ray player? The movie collection? The sofa? I’ll bet a lot of people can’t just find a new place the next day, and end up having to share an apartment or house with the person they’ve broken up with. Awkward. Keep your own space until you get married, even if you rarely stay there.
Forks can do damage.
I went to riding camp where one of the girls there admitted she and her Mom ran away from her Dad. She had scars from fork stab wounds all over her stomach.
That fork could have blinded him, or he could have been stuck with fork scars all over. She had no right to do that. It does matter if she brandished it, or used it on him. It is unclear if the “abrasions” mentioned are from the fork, her nails, throwing stuff, or what.
What a crazy train. Time to disembark. I wouldn’t send someone to jail for that since there was no serious injury, but she needs to stay away from him. That said, anyone can be a psycho stalker and harm or kill someone, including a woman.
Please notice the small buldge in her left cheek. This is evidence of left wing glaucoma narcissim. Fork em if ya gottem.
She looks like Jodi Arias.
I wonder, could you be arrested for an “aggravated pillow fight”?
Jay S – there is a great pillow fight in Abel Gance’s Napoleon. You get hit with a feather pillow just right, it can do some damage. 😉 I could see assault charges under today’s codes. 🙂
Okay….so he takes her to a bar (booze) to watch a fight on TV (very romantic), then to a party, with (likely) more booze, followed by a huge fight with police and an arrest, public humiliation, and much money flying out the family checkbook.
Maybe start with some lifestyle changes, some that don’t involve booze and glorification of violence, maybe?
And for anyone who thinks living together (as if married) has any less potential for volatility than being married, think again. Emotionally it’s identical to being married.
JJ, correct on all points.
wildbill99 – and don’t forget, he leaves the fork on the floor where someone can step on it and injure themselves.
That’s a common assault, not an aggravated assault. There are times when you think state legislators must have composed the penal code in a drunken stupor. If you don’t trust the judiciary to exercise intelligent discretion in sentencing (and you shouldn’t), prescribe brief determinate sentences for misdemeanors which allow sheriffs the discretion to release convicts on parole 2/3 of the way through if they haven’t proved a disciplinary problem in the jail.
Geez a fork? Maybe she should have used a bike lock, dressed up in all black, put on a mask & yell anti-trump chants, I am sure the Judge will drop it down to a misdemeanor then!
After all Eric Clanton was charged with four counts of felony assault with a deadly weapon, causing great bodily injury after he assaulted several people: seriously injuring three & one was caught on video that went viral at last Aprils Battle of Berkeley. Despite having hard evidence against him, including phone conversations, photos, the video, personal items, & even witnesses who say he discussed the attack with them, Mr. Clanton who was also a professor no less pleaded no contest to one misdemeanor battery charge. All felony charges against him were dismissed & an allegation that he had caused serious bodily injury was stricken.
So I fail to see how someone with a fork can be charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon when IT NEVER TOUCHED HIM, but someone who actually caused GREAT HARM TO SEVERAL PEOPLE is left off with NOTHING. I am sorry but I am losing a lot of faith in the justice system you all keep telling me is supposed to be blind.
I don’t care what political beliefs you have ANYONE that hits anyone with a bike lock or stabs someone with a fork or whatever DESERVES some JAIL TIME! In her situation I get things may have gotten heated, but the minute she picked up that fork she had intent to do him further harm that is not ok! If she had picked up a knife, she could have killed him. Forks are sharp!
What Clanton did should not be treated as a felony. Misdemeanors should garner the defendant real punishment in the form of incarceration or corporal penalties (cane, birch, or pillory-and-stocks), not social-work wheel spinning. Apply standard formulae to jack-up the sentence given the defendants previous criminal history.
Put a fork in her, she’s done!
mespo…LOL!
And if she’s driving and comes to a fork in the road….look out.
Nice one!
So she is tidy, what is the problem?
teeheehee
Cindy Bragg – some women just pick up as they go along. Perfect defense. 🙂
Paul…..There’s a sign on my kitchen wall that reads: “Housework never killed anyone, but why take a chance?”
Cindy Bragg – love it. 🙂
She picked up the fork so she could eat his guts when she had sliced himi open with her fingernail. The dish ran away with the sppon here. What if it had been just a spoon? Or a toothpick? At some point a weapon is not deadly and at some point (or lack thereof) an item is not a weapon. It is like a raging bull which has no horns and no front teeth.
My favorite “deadly weapon” was boiling beans. A woman was preparing dinner when her husband/boyfriend came home late, drunk, and smelling like another woman. The offended female used what was handy. The male dropped the charges. He was hungry, I guess. Another favorite was a Christmas wreath which the semi-literate police officer listed in his report to as a “reef”.
🙂
I recall a news item some years ago where a wife stabbed her husband with a fork. She told the responding police officers that she was provoked because he was “eating like a pig.”