A minor case involving Simple Assault

[Mustey]

Hi!

First Bulgarian forum I see that allows writing in English!
(I feel so free )

Anyway, hopefully it has not been discussed many times before, I will present you with an incident I witnessed and would like to ask you a small question afterwards. Here goes:

Person A drives his Green VW, he's about to make a turn left when Person
B, driving a black Mercedes cuts him from the left - a pretty ugly, illegal
and annoying maneuvre. Person A uses his horn and shouts at the driver
of the Mercedes. Person B uses his car to continue the, now hostile, argument by stopping suddenly in front of the VW and blocking it's path.

Then Person B blocks the road for the VW and opens his windows to shout
curses and threats to Person A. Person B then parks the Mercedes and walks out. Person A parks shortly afterwards, goes out of his car and initiates a fight with Person B.

Person A, although obviously less potent than B, manages to drop B
to the ground where Person A hits B once in the face, causing a minor, but visible bruise.

Then A stands up and gets into his car. Person B stands up and kicks the back of the VW several times, causing a stop signal to brake. Person A
drives in reverse for a couple of meters, in intention to hit Person B but
B escapes. And the incident concludes.

My question is:
According to Bulgarian law, what is the maximum sentanse, should Person A be charged and prooven guilty for his initiation of the fight?

I can read Bulgarian pretty well if you'd prefer to answer me in that language and would explain or provide more details should you require.

Thanks!

[T.Dimov]

First thing is they can charge A for attempted murder for this part of your story " Person A drives in reverse for a couple of meters, in intention to hit Person B" , which will be hard to prove.
If person A has initiated the fight, and only person B is injured then it depends on the medical examination - either 5 years maximum or 3 years maximum, depends on the degree of the injury , the sentence can be even not jail.
Depending on the situation there can be other charges, or there cannot be charges at all.

I personally will advice both A and B to ask a lawyer for consultation.

--------
T.Dimov

[Mustey]

hmmm... Interesting.

[kontrol]

First thing is they can charge A for attempted murder for this part of your story " Person A drives in reverse for a couple of meters, in intention to hit Person B" , which will be hard to prove.
If person A has initiated the fight, and only person B is injured then it depends on the medical examination - either 5 years maximum or 3 years maximum, depends on the degree of the injury , the sentence can be even not jail.
Depending on the situation there can be other charges, or there cannot be charges at all.

Yes, it will be better, if Mustey says something about the proofs and evidences: witness, video...
And we must know what the traumata are.

But I think, that we can also take account of the affect, so

Article 132
(1) (Amended, SG No. 28/1982, supplemented, SG No. 89/1986) For a bodily injury, except in the cases under Article 131a, inflicted on another in a state of strong vexation, provoked by the victim with violence, grave insult, slander or another unlawful act, from which grave consequences have set in or could have set in for the perpetrator or his next-of-kin, the punishment shall be:
1. deprivation of liberty for up to three years for severe bodily injury;
2. deprivation of liberty for up to one year for medium bodily injury;
3. deprivation of liberty for three months or probation up to six months for trivial bodily injury under Article 130, paragraph (1);
4. (Amended, SG No. 10/1993, 92/02, 103/04) probation of up to six months or a fine from BGN one hundred to three hundred under Article 130, paragraph (2).
(2) The punishments under the preceding paragraph shall also be imposed in the cases of inflicting bodily injury in exceeding the limits of self-defence.

resp.

Article 118
(Amended, SG No. 28/1982)
For murder committed in a state of strong vexation, provoked by the victim with violence, with a grave insult or slander or with another unlawful action, from which serious consequences have set in or could set in for the culprit or his next-of-kin, the punishment shall be: in the cases of Article 115 - deprivation of liberty for one to eight years, and in the cases under Article 116, sub-paragraphs 1 - 6 deprivation of liberty for three to ten years.

[Mustey]

Person B did have some red marks on his face. I belive those red marks have diappeared after 20 minutes.
One evidence is the broken stop light on the VW. It is broken in such a way that can only result from a kick. That's not much.

There were witnesses but I don't know if any of them would show up
because they are not affiliated with any of the parties.

Let's assume Person A had a passanger on board and that this passanger
was called to a nearby police station to write what happened in the
event. What might occur if there are some serious differences between what person A wrote and what his friend wrote?

[T.Dimov]

At the moment most probably the police are gathering more evidences. If person A and the witness, who was in his car, tell two different stories, most probably they will call both of them once again to explain the situation.
I presume you are asking if person A, who most probably will be suspect, can be charged if he didn't told the whole truth . The answer to this question is NO, he supposedly was affected. Another point is, that all the explanations which are not given in front of a judge, cannot be used in future trail.