Some Assaults Eliminated as ‘Strikes’

Martial arts movies to the contrary, hands and feet are not deadly weapons that automatically increase the punishment for assault, the state Supreme Court ruled Monday.

The crime of assault with a deadly weapon requires use of “an object extrinsic to the body,” the court said in a unanimous decision.

Lawyers in the case said the ruling would not affect many sentences because the same punishment--two, three or four years in prison--is provided for any assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury. That can include punching or kicking.

Simple assault, without a weapon or force likely to produce great bodily injury, is a misdemeanor punishable by six months in jail.

One consequence of the ruling is to eliminate the charging of some assaults as “strikes” under the three-strikes law, which requires doubled sentences for a repeat crime and 25 years to life for a third felony, said defense lawyer Patricia L. Watkins. She said her client, Raymond Aguilar, would no longer have a strike on his record even though the court left his conviction intact.

Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar said the conviction should stand because the prosecutor told the jury that to be deadly weapons, hands and feet had to be used with force that was likely to cause serious injury.