Yeah. Just so y’all know, this type of reaction from Monty is NOTHING NEW. Nothing new at all.
And I also want to add my support to lieu—of course it was foolish (but understandable) to pop the guy in the nose. He deserved it, but you shouldn’t have done it. But now you need to get through the rest of this ordeal. My good thoughts and prayers go out to you and your family.
Yeah. Just so y’all know, this type of reaction from Monty is NOTHING NEW. Nothing new at all.
And I also want to add my support to lieu—of course it was foolish (but understandable) to pop the guy in the nose. He deserved it, but you shouldn’t have done it. But now you need to get through the rest of this ordeal. My good thoughts and prayers go out to you and your family.
Yeah. Just so y’all know, this type of reaction from Monty is NOTHING NEW. Nothing new at all.
And I also want to add my support to lieu—of course it was foolish (but understandable) to pop the guy in the nose. He deserved it, but you shouldn’t have done it. But now you need to get through the rest of this ordeal. My good thoughts and prayers go out to you and your family.
lieu - Congrats on the way you handled the matter. Calling the cops instead of confronting this idiot yourself would have just pissed him off even more. The fact that he was agressed by the agressee (if that makes sense) should stifle any further actions from this idiot.
By the way, how does your wife view this, now that she`s had time to digest the whole situation?
**Lieu ** I am sorry for your problems with this asshat whackjob neighbor. I’ve been in your shoes, though, my whackjob neighbor is more along the lines of just your ordinary non-violent sue-happy loonie.
I cannot offer legal or moral advice ( I know, it’s a first for me.)
But, regarding your bill with the lawyers. When we were sued by our Nutjob Neighbor ™ we ( meaning Mr. Ujest) bartered his services with the lawyer and built a deck for him over the course of maybe two weekends. He was happy as it was one more thing ticked off his to-do list and we were happy not to pay. ( Our case was thrown out.)
Maybe you could work something out.
Anywhoooo, I feel, Disclaimer! based on what you’ve told us, that this guy is a nightmare and it will be thrown out.
If it isn’t, and you go to jail, don’t worry, we Dopers will start a benefit in your honor to raise money to pay for your first neck tattoo 
What you really need is a potato gun, dog poo in a paper bag, aquanette and a match.
You figure out the rest.
What’s nothing new is Opal taking yet another opportunity to bitch at me when it’s not warranted. What I said and what you & Bippy appear to be pretending I said are two different things. What I said is what I posted.
I just got an e-mail from Bippy (who, thanks to that e-mail is now blocked from sending me e-mail).
FTR: I said to the OP:
That’s not an attack, unless you are extremely ultra-sensitive–lieu doesn’t seem to be ultra-sensitive. It’s not an attack–opinion. Heck, in my life, I’ve screwed up but good before and the authorities have let me know about it. I bet everyone, at some time, has done something they could’ve gotten into serious trouble for (or even did get into serious trouble for).
The OP’s comment about me not wanting to defend my family were unwarranted & it appears lieu realizes that {I checked the top of page 3 & the middle of page 2 and see what lieu & I had to say to each other.} I also admit that, given the same circumstances, I’d probably let the the situation handle me, so to speak. I think I would also realize that I’d be in trouble after it was all said and done. & that the trouble was something I’d gotten myself into. lieu certainly realizes it (look at the entirety of his postings in this thread) & I think that takes a big man (real machismo) to buck up to that and not just gripe that he’s being tried for what’s a criminal act (come to think of it, I have no idea if it’s a felony or a misdemeanor)
Again FTR: What I think the court should do: find him guilty & hold sentence in abeyance for a stated time. After stated time, expunge provided he meets the terms of the probationary period (which he will do, & there’s absolutely no doubt in my mind as to that). And this opinion of mine is based on what lieu posted, what I consider mitigating factors (the dude next-door), and lieu’s obviously being a stellar member of his community (there is no sarcasm there). The court should also instruct the next-door neighbour to cease & desist from harassing the community–I guess a restraining order could be issued against him?–and if he violates that court order, the loon’s the one in serious trouble! Oh, instead of finding him guilty on the spot, the court (if the local laws permit it) could just hold the verdict in abeyance until the probationary period’s over. That way, it’ll be like it all never happened.
I’m not interested in Opal’s opinion of this (or anything else for that matter).
On preview, I decided that I am interested in Bippy’s opinion of that solution.
I am definitely interested in what lieu thinks of my suggestion as to what the court should do. What do you think, lieu? Especially about the holding the verdict in abeyance.
Well, I’ll give you MY opinion for what it’s worth. It seems entirely reasonable to me. Only knowing what I do from this thread, if I were on a jury I would vote guilty based on Lieu’s statements alone. But I wouldn’t send someone to prison over it.
However, as I noted in an earlier post, it is just not possible to punish the asshole neighbor as any part of a result of this trial (except for some kind of contempt citation of he acts up too much), because he is not charged with anything. Since the prosecutor hasn’t seen fit to charge him yet, it’s very unlikely it will happen at all. So lieu’s best bet is starting a separate procedure against the neighbor to attain a court order that the neighbor keep his distance.
I seem to recall now that there’s something known as “mutual assault.” Isn’t that a good way for it all to not go to trial? Doesn’t mutual assault require both parties wishing to press charges against each other? Or is there no such charge as that?
in many states mutual combat is a violation- not a misdemeanor. It doesn’t require anything of the parties, just a judicial finding that they were both involved in the fight. Your jurisdiction may vary.
Good luck, lieu–here’s hoping that the charges are dropped and that a mighty sinkhole openeth up next door and swolloweth up thy neighbor.
Very interesting suggestions and yeah, I’ll come back and make a comment as soon as there’s resolution in the case, probably Wednesday or Thursday, provided I’m still a free man.
I will say this… I remember well my feelings as this was unfolding and had one thing in mind, that being the safety of my family. However, in hindsight and out of respect for the judicial system and not as acquiescence to the whims of a nutjob, I would in a similar future encounter hope that the law enforcement community could be counted on to provide an acceptable level of protection.
And Boyo, your comments were completely valid considering the brevity of my description. As mentioned it would be foolish of me to provide all the details at this time. You and I are much closer in our sentiments regarding the issue that it would at first appear. The situation, for better or worse, then modified my reaction.
“swalloweth”
I swear.
Anyway, good luck, again!
Good luck Lieu, keep us informed.
My feelings on this situation are
1 Lieu did a heroic thing in attempting to protect his family.
2 What he did was not necessarily legal
3 The courts if they serve justice should warn Lieu, or defer any action against lieu as long as he keeps the peace for a period of time
4 I did not consider the OP to be whining.
5 “you screwed up but good” is rude where I come from, sorry if I was mistaken and was not meant to be taken as offensive.
6 Monty would be less unhappy if he was less rude.
Cheers, Bippy
P.S. I emailed Monty so as to try and resolve our differences away from this thread, which is about lieu not about him.
Not to get off topic, but if you do end up doing time, I feel sorry for the poor barstard that has to share your terlit… 
Good luck buddy…
Best o’luck to ya lieu.
He sounds like my roommate before he found the right medication. I once encountered a flying fork bouncing off my chest after returning from a pool party with my kids. It still had cat food on it, what a stench. Never did find out why he threw it at me. Save us all from the nuts!
I know one thing; I’m not messing with lieu! So far he’s disarmed two people that had weapons that would kill a person if used properly. lieu, if it ever came down to a duel between you and me, you take the butter knife and I’ll take the tank just to keep it fare.
Your comments in that e-mail were hogwash, Bippy. Plus not everyone’s where you come from. I am not unhappy. You are still sorely mistaken.
I actually hope lieu gets a fair result, fair being whatever the law says based on what the jury decides. As I said earlier, though, he shouldn’t be surprised if he gets found guilty.
Wheeee! Who’s gonna start the “Lieu’s Neck Tattoo” Thread? In honor of the SDMB, I propose a hamster!
I also read the old thread. I don’t really understand the reasoning involved with requesting that a thread be deleted for legal reasons and then opening a duplicate thread before the trial. Always keep your mouth shut is a pretty good bit of legal advice. Don’t talk to the cops, don’t post the details on message boards, don’t make any statements anytime without a lawyer present. lieu seemed to have realized this and now seems to have forgotten.
Anyhow, this isn’t an isolated incident. lieu appears to me (based on his posts here) to be an all too often violent & unreasonable person. I’m fairly convinced that this isn’t a “bad luck” or “no choice/tough situation” problem. This is an anger management problem. I think that laws against violence are good things. My mother taught me that I should never hit anyone. “Violence is never the answer.” she’d say. Self defense notwithstanding of course . I think that she has the right idea. I like a gangster flick as much as the next guy, but I don’t like aggression in my actual reality. I’m not impressed by violence. I’m not satisfied by it. I don’t think anyone deserves a pop in the nose. I don’t think that breaking someone’s nose makes anyone tough or cool or a “badass”. I think it makes them uncivilized. I think people who behave like that impede peaceful society. I think they take the easy way out and my opinion of them goes down, not up.
I’m reminded of this thread in which lieu punches a motorist for giving him the bird. That time it was getting the bird, this time it’s the tire iron. I’m not buying the excuses. The problem isn’t other people here. We all have to deal with assholes and frustration. The one who takes it to violence is the problem. If he had heeded my advice in that thread he wouldn’t have paid upwards of $7000 in legal fees, no one would have had thier nose broken, and he wouldn’t be looking at a trial and the possibility of doing time. So I’ll just quote my original advice and hope that he (and all who think violence is a solution) act differently in the future.
All that said and my point made, I do want everything to work out well for lieu. The legal system sucks to be caught up in. Here’s hoping that you get the case dismissed, move on with your life, and stop using violence as a solution. Learn from these mistakes. Become a better person.
DaLovin’ Dj
Good points politely made dalovindj.
I had not read the earlier thread you linked too, in that one lieu definitely over reacted. The reason I see this one as different is that the other guy verbally threatened his loved ones.
So I ask what should we do if some perp threatens our loved ones?
Do we go straight to the Police, without proof of the event, and risking antagonizing the perp?
Do we become a sleuth, and try to gain recorded evidence of the perps behavior, using up our own time and resources, possibly antagonizing the perp if he/she becomes suspicious?
Do we move away, inconveniencing ourselves, and not helping deal with the perp?
Do we wait until the perp does physical damage to our loved ones?
Or are there other better alternatives?
Thanks, Bippy
fingers still crossed for lieu