Court Opinion

ID: 9761441
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 01:43:04.230323+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:23.765640
License: Public Domain

CERCONE, President Judge,
concurring:
The dissenting opinion not only fails to add anything to the body of meaningful law but obfuscates any attempt to do so. Not every kick of the head to an elderly person can be considered an aggravated assault; but, neither can the elemental facts of old age be ignored. (We take the facts of this case presumed in the assailant’s view of the situation.) It is of general knowledge that an elderly person can, without being touched by anyone, fall and break a hip, an arm or sustain a concussion. Any normal person, with the least iota of sensitivity, would be horrified at the thought of striking an elderly person, not only because of the natural respect a normally responsible person feels for the elderly, but also out of the knowledge of the explicit danger that would come from such action. Here, all the assailant knew was that he was attacking an elderly person. Taking the view of the dissent in its very best interpretation, the surrounding circumstances of a kick in the head and being pushed up against a wall is sufficient circumstantial evidence to indicate the intent to do serious bodily harm to the victim, whether the kick was administered by a naked foot, a tennis shoe, or a hob-nailed boot. I think it is time we separated legal niceties from the facts of life and protect the elderly on the latter ground rather than assuage the conduct of the assailant on the former. (This was an attack for the purposes of this case upon an early person.)
HESTER, J., joins in this opinion.