In the Interest of Q. M. L.

The juvenile used excessive force in defending herself against the unarmed victim when she stabbed the victim with a knife after repelling the victim's initial attack.

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Fourteen-year-old Q. M. L. admitted that she stabbed a schoolmate with a knife but claimed she did so in self-defense. Evidence showed that the weaponless victim hit Q. M. L. from behind while Q. M. L. sat in the school bus, in response to which Q. M. L. elbowed the victim, stood up, turned around, and stabbed the victim with a knife that she had hidden in her school bus seat. The question on appeal is whether this evidence sufficed to sustain the juvenile court’s finding that Q. M. L. without justification committed aggravated assault, leading to the court’s adjudication of delinquency. We hold that the evidence supports the finding, and we therefore affirm.

Construed in favor of the juvenile court’s ruling, the evidence showed that Q. M. L. and the victim had a history of confrontation. Q. M. L. heard from others that the victim intended to fight and possibly stab Q. M. L. on a particular day, and therefore Q. M. L. secreted a knife between her school bus seat cushions on the morning of that day. On the way home on the school bus, the victim, who had no weapon, approached Q. M. L. from behind and hit her. Q. M. L. elbowed the victim, knocking her onto a boy. The boy pushed the victim off him. Q. M. L. stood up, turned around, and—even though she saw no weapon on the victim—stabbed the victim in the stomach area piercing her liver with the knife retrieved from the seat cushions. Q. M. L. tried to stab the victim again, but the victim grabbed and held the knife away. Others then held Q. M. L., who said that she wanted to be let go so that she could “kill” the victim. The confrontation ended, with the victim unconscious and bleeding.

In the Interest of Q. M. L.

The juvenile used excessive force in defending herself against the unarmed victim when she stabbed the victim with a knife after repelling the victim's initial attack.

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