In this episode I talk about, The common-law crime of mayhem is defined as an act of maliciously disabling or disfiguring the victim. This is essentially the modern definition as well. The actus reus for mayhem is that the defendant must commit an act that causes the victim an injury that either permanently disfigures him or disables him.

In this episode, I talk about the various crimes to which Louie Sanchez and Marvin Norwood have been charged in the Bryan Stow assault case.

Either way, “mayhem” in the criminal law context typically means a brutal assault and battery that leads to a serious injury. I also talk about Fetter v. Beale [91 Eng. Rep. 1122] – The plaintiff had recovered damages from the defendant for the action of battery. Shortly thereafter, “part of his skull by reason of the said battery came out of his head”, and the plaintiff brought a subsequent action under mayhem. Through this case, the scope of mayhem was also expanded to loss of skull.