Citizen
Founder's Club Member
I couldn't fing it either.
If the victim was arested for a non-existant law, what common law right does the victim have in the Commonwealth to resist?
The press report says they got into a wrestling match, the deputy used mace but eventually it was taken away from him. The bit that will get the victim in a lot of trouble is the spitting in the face. Can't justify that as resisting an unlawful arrest.
Commonwealth vs Hill addresses it. In Hill the VA Supreme Court declared there is no right to resist an unlawful detention. While discussing this, the court expressly states that we enjoy the right to use reasonable force to resist an illegal arrest.
I've been thinking about this angle a little bit. As far as I know, we are allowed to use reasonable force to resist an unlawful arrest. When I take into account that 1) cops don't stop trying to arrest you just cause you resist, and 2) cops are trained to escalate (they even have a scale of escalation they call the 'force continuum' or something), it seems to me you would have to incapacitate or maybe even apply lethal force to make him stop.
Although Latson pounded the cop's face enough to need reconstructive surgery, can we really accuse Latson for being effective?
I quoted Commonwealth v Hill in a post above. Here is the link again for anyone who missed it: http://www.courts.state.va.us/opinions/opnscvwp/1012526.pdf