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60 Emory L.J. 1389 (2010-2011)
Superhuman in the Octagon, Imperfect in the Courtroom: Assessing the Culpability of Martial Artists Who Kill during Street Fights

handle is hein.journals/emlj60 and id is 1401 raw text is: SUPERHUMAN IN THE OCTAGON, IMPERFECT IN THE COURTROOM: ASSESSING THE CULPABILITY OF MARTIAL ARTISTS WHO KILL DURING STREET FIGHTS ABSTRACT This Comment offers a new way for subjective characteristics to influence the criminal law of self-defense. Specifically, this Comment proposes a higher standard of self-defense for martial artists who kill their opponents outside competition settings, by denying the martial artists, as a matter of law, the ability to claim two distinct partial defenses: imperfect self-defense and provocation. For a martial artist, a proportional use of force should rarely require killing the aggressor because martial artists possess special fighting skills that are designed to subdue opponents without killing them. Courts should allow juries to judge a martial artist's culpability for homicidal violence by considering his skills according to what this Comment introduces as the martial sufficiency test. The martial sufficiency test serves two functions. First, the test balances a martial artist's skills with the limitations of his training to determine if he has killed his opponent through a disproportionate use of his skill. This will rein in martial artists who abuse their abilities and protect those who use their skills responsibly. Second, the test provides a framework for courts to determine under what circumstances a martial artist should be denied the partial defenses. The test has five factors designed to give ordinary jurors insight into martial arts training so they can fairly decide self-defense cases involving combatants with specialized skills. Passing the test results in martial sufficiency, a heightened standard of self-defense in which only a perfect self-defense can exculpate a defendant. While the test is designed to apply to anyone with specialized combat skills, such as police officers or soldiers, this Comment applies the test to the population of martial artists in particular. By applying the test to martial artists, this Comment emphasizes the need for the law and the martial arts community to adapt to each other. The martial sufficiency test is a vehicle to begin this adaptive process.

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