What is the test for determining who is the initial aggressor?

The "initial aggressor" is the first person who uses or threatens the imminent use of physical force in a given encounter. However, even if someone is the initial aggressor with respect to mere physical force, another person may be the initial aggressor with respect to deadly physical force. If mere physical force is employed against a defendant, and the defendant responds by employing deadly physical force, "the term initial aggressor is properly defined as the first person in the encounter to use deadly physical force" ( People v. McWilliams , 48 A.D.3d 1266, 1267, 852 N.Y.S.2d 523 [4th Dept. 2008] ).⁴

To determine who the "initial aggressor" is, then, both the sequence of the attacks (or imminently threatened attacks)

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