Criminal Attorney Sacramento – Law Office of Wing & Parisi (916) 441-4888

When to use Duress as a Defense

Duress is defined as a threat of harm made to compel a person to do something against his or her will or judgment, especially a wrongful threat. There are four requirements that must be met in order to qualify for duress. The first is that the threat must be of serious bodily harm or death. Second, the threatened harm must be greater than the harm caused by the crime. Third, the threat must be immediate and inescapable and lastly, the defendant must have become involved in the situation through no fault of his or her own. You can also use duress as a defense if there was any force or violence used to compel you to enter into a contract.

There are two broad categories of duress. Physical duress is a threat to your physical well being. It can be executed by a logistical contract or by social influence. Courts do not always approve social influence because it is a type of contract that has no real manifestation of mutual assent. In some cases, the threat to harm a person’s goods is used until the person enters into a contract with them. The second type of duress is economic. There are various elements of this type of duress. It must qualify as a wrongful or improper threat such as criminal, tortuous conduct, or morally wrong to breach a contract in “bad faith”. If there is an available legal remedy, the element is not met and duress is not considered. The threat must induce the making of the contract. It is a subjective element and takes into account the victim’s age, their background, and relationship to the parties, and the ability to receive any advice.

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Contact us online or call at (916) 441-4888 for a free and confidential initial consultation, available in Spanish. We appear in state and federal courts in the Sacramento and Davis communities as well as throughout Placer and San Joaquin counties.

The Law Office of Wing & Parisi serves clients in the Sacramento and Davis communities as well as throughout Placer County and San Joaquin County. Hablamos espanol.