Eleasis 24, 151 Watch Files Watch House Regard Chk Assault in Arena
All the versions of this event agree on a single fact. Chk continued to attack his opponent in the duel, Tuur, after it was clear Tuur no longer was fighting back. This clearly constitutes assault, but it is further clear there was no intent to kill. The position of the bystanders who rushed to Tuur's defense, coupled with the length of time it took to arrive provided Chk ample opportunity to kill Tuur had that been his motivation. Chk's verbal statements after Tuur became unable to defend himself verify this version of events.
Therefore on the accusation of assault against Tuur, Chk is found guilty. As punishment he is found guilty of a serious crimes and will turn himself into the Watch for arrest.
On the accusation of assault against Thane Rollo Stoneshield, Chk is found not guilty. Although the Thane did rush to the defense of his kinsman reportedly to heal his wounds, he did so by his own statement with a weapon drawn. This was poor judgement on his part and it would have been clear to calmer minds that Chk would interpret this as a hostile act especially when accompanied by preemptive castings of magic in preparation for a fight.
In response to Thane Rollo Stoneshield's legal justification for his view of the matter:
1. My kinsman was clearly beaten in the duel, was quite unconscious and therefore unable to protect himself from the Duergar's repeated blows that clearly put his life at risk. In fact, I know of no fighting style which honors the repeated bashing of an unresponsive opponant's head into a wall, while screaming insults at the fallen's race and gods.
While I'm familiar with several similar fighting styles, especially practiced by priests of Garagos-this clearly constituted assault and every version of the event included these repeated blows. I did not find Chk's justification that Tuur would attack him from behind after being beaten to the ground convincing.
2. As I had the first contest, I walked into the arena to heal the fallen. I stopped a good 6 human strides away from my fallen kinsman and the brute who was screaming insults to the dwarven pantheon while he visited his anger and pain upon his beaten opponant.Sadly this statement is contradictory to the Thane's earlier statement of:
I rushed to defend my clansman, intending to heal Tuur before this honorless cur would slay him. As I entered the arena with my mace of holy healing to revive Tuur, the Duergar turned to stare at me, and began to advance.
Either the arena was entered in a rush, with a mace drawn, or it was walked into calmly. The first statement makes it clear the Thane only stopped upon realization that Chk took his advance as a threat.
Under normal circumstances, I would find both parties guilty of assault in this situation. However, the Thane acted regardless of how hasty, to save Tuur's life. Chk in turn had adequete reason to believe his own life was in danger. For this reason, no one will be held liable for this second attack.
3. I have read Sanctuary law, and it clearly states that an attack with deadly magic or a weapon constitutes assault with intent to kill. There is no clause that allows an attacker to be excused for their own demented conception of reality.I fear the ability to read the Sanctuary law does not make one a legal scholar. Over a century of common law decisions have made it clear that "intent to kill" is not directly implied by assault with deadly magic or a weapon. If it was, the Thane himself may be guilty of assault with intent to kill by entering the Arena with a drawn weapon.
Intent to kill is only readily demonstrated by proof of premeditation on the part of the attacker. To be guilty of intent to kill, Chk must have either 1) announced his intent to kill to some witness prior to the assault or 2) have refrained from his assault, taken measure of the situation, and then resumed his attack on Tuur with deadly force. I am afraid no testimony presented to the Watch demonstrated either of these two situations.
As a final addendum, Chk has forty-eight hours from the announcement of this decision to turn himself into the Watch. Failure to do so will incur a 100 gold per day fine for every day unreported, in addition to his sentence for serious crimes. The Watch member Chk turns himself into will file the necessary paperwork about Chk's arrest.
Filed Private Barrister Fawkes