And attacking a person who didn't throw the cup of beer is.....what???
beyond stoopid = artest
he caused this whole f'n mess!
If A hits B and B then intending to hit A but hits C instead, then if B would have been justified in hitting A, B will not be criminally liable for hitting C even though C was innocent. However, if B was not justified in his response, then B will be both potentially liable criminally and civilly to C.
Thus, if Artest would have been justified in hitting the actual fan that threw the cut, then he will not be liable to the actual fan he hit regardless of the innocence of such fan (but his mistaken identifying of the fan must be a reasonable mistake).
In this case, however, Artest faces an uphill (but not impossible) climb of arguing self-defense and thus will likely be liable to the innocent defense.