People v. Wilson CA3

Background Leading to the Fight

The teenaged daughters of defendant and Mrs. Eakin had apparently once been friends. While the record is unclear as to why this friendship soured, five or six months prior to the altercation, defendant allegedly made phone calls to the Eakin home in which she swore at Mr. Eakin. After school, on the day of the attack, defendant’s younger daughter told defendant that Mrs. Eakin had slapped her. Defendant picked up both girls and drove to the Eakin home.

2 The Fight

Accounts of the fight, which came from the two respective families, differed wildly.

Defendant’s witnesses3 testified that defendant calmly came to the Eakin house to discuss the matter of the slapping incident only after trying to resolve it with school officials, and the Eakins instigated a fight. Mrs. Eakin attacked defendant with the baseball bat. Defendant tried to grab the bat from Mrs. Eakin, but it slipped—hitting Mrs. Eakin. Defendant tried again and was able to get it away from her. While they were struggling, Mr. Eakin came out of the house with a gun, and defendant and her family fled.

The Eakins testified that defendant came to the door in a rage. Mr. Eakin proceeded…