At the beginning of the movie Con Air, the main character is presented as an ex-Green Beret who is attacked by 3 people outside a bar. He defends himself and his pregnant wife during the fight until one breaks a bottle over his head, after which he recovers and deliberately uses a palm strike to the face, killing one of his assailants.

Subsequently, he is arraigned for manslaughter. In an attempt to plea bargain the sentence down from a possible 10 years, he pleads guilty with the expectation he'll get something like 4. The judge accepts the guilty verdict, but rejects the plea terms and sentences him the full amount with the statement, "Your military training makes you a deadly weapon..."

This mentality runs contrary to my personal sensibilities (so I probably can't be a juror in this sort of trial), but to me common sense suggests that when you're being attacked in a 3 on 1 scenario and someone has introduced a weapon, it is prudent to no longer be lenient.

Does the law disagree with this mentality? Are military members and other persons who study martial arts held to a different standard in cases of assault or manslaughter like this?