Find A Criminal Defense Attorney Near Me
A battery and assault conviction can negatively affect your professional and personal life. You want to consult a well-experienced and knowledgeable attorney to help you with legal guidance. Before you plead guilty or confess to the crime, you must understand the available legal options.
At Los Angeles Criminal Attorney, our team of experienced attorneys can help you fight the charge and obtain the best outcomes for the case. If you seek legal help in Los Angeles, CA, contact us at for a confidential and free consultation.
What About Battery Causing Serious Bodily Harm Or Injury
When is battery a felony?
Its a common question, and the answer is relatively straightforward: aggravated battery, California PC 243, is a wobbler, and can be charged as a felony or misdemeanor.
What is aggravated battery? Its all about how hurt the victim gets, and battery with serious bodily injury can bump up what would have been a misdemeanor simple battery to a felony aggravated battery charge. If someones physical condition is seriously impaired, it qualifies as serious bodily harm or injury. Common examples include a concussion or broken/fractured bones, but also includes many other possibilities handled on a case-by-case basis.
Heres a real-life example of a simple battery turned aggravated battery due to injury:
Two men get into a bar fight. They get kicked out and take it outside to a parking lot. One man pushes the other to the ground and he lands with his neck on the curb, he hits his spinal cord and is paralyzed. The serious bodily injury makes it aggravated battery, and an aggravated battery sentence is much more severe.
As the example above demonstrates, a simple bar fight may result in very serious consequences. The best course of action is to seek counsel right away to best help your case, before you go to court. See here about the difference a strong, proper defense can make.
States Vary In Their Definitions And Penalties For The Crimes Of Assault Assault And Battery And Aggravated Assault
The crimes of assault, assault and battery, and aggravated assault all involve intentional harm inflicted on one person by another. Any crime involving a physical attack is usually classified as an assault, a battery, or both. Depending on the seriousness of the attack , these acts can rise to the level of aggravated assault. And more than one-sided attacks can constitute assault. Fighting can lead to an assault charge, even when two people have mutually agreed to fight.
Read on to learn how the law defines and penalizes assault, assault and battery, and aggravated assault crimes.
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Elements Of The Crime Of Assault Are:
R v. Constanza in this case the defendant uses the word will show the gesture it may harm her, he used to follow her, send her letter and write offense words on the door. The court overruled the judgement of R v. Meade and Belt and held that the word which is used by the defendant is offensive and does commit an assault.
Hopper v. Reeve
If a person is about to sit on a chair and the chair is pulled, there is an assault as long as he takes to fall to the ground. The moment he makes contact with the ground, it will become a battery.
What If You Are Being Falsely Accused Of Assault Or Battery
What if you were defending yourself? In order to make a case for your innocence, your defense must prove you were protecting yourself or someone else from imminent harm, acted in self-defense, and did not use excessive force. Proving you used no more than the amount of reasonable force required is one of the many reasons why seeking proper defense right away is paramount to proving your innocence. Be proactive and dont wait because any statement you make without legal counsel could be to your detriment.
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Inability To Commit Crime
This works well for assault charges because even if you threaten someone but clearly cannot follow through with that threat, it is not considered assault. For example, if a person with two broken hands in a cast threatens to choke the person in front of them at that moment, this is not considered assault because the person with broken hands cannot actually choke anyone.
Gallagher Krich Apc: Experienced San Diego California Personal Injury Attorneys
The statute of limitations for assault and battery claims in California is two years. Therefore, if you intend to sue your attacker after an assault or battery, you must consult with an experienced personal injury lawyer as soon as possible.
Fill out the contact form below or call 926-5797 to arrange a free consultation with a San Diego, California, personal injury attorney from Gallagher Krich, APC, to discuss your case. Once you contact us, one of our knowledgeable lawyers will review your cases facts to evaluate whether you have a valid personal injury claim and then provide you with advice on your legal options.
The attorneys at Gallagher Krich, APC, have assisted assault and battery victims throughout California in obtaining good legal outcomes, and we are prepared to use our 30+ years of combined law experience for your benefit.
Contact our offices today, and well take all necessary steps to make sure your assailant pays for their actions.
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More Questions About Assault And Battery An Attorney Can Help
In an assault or battery case there are important defenses that may apply, especially in cases where two people were involved in a mutually heated exchange. If you or someone you know is concerned about a criminal assault or battery charge, it is critical to contact a criminal defense lawyer as early as possible to better understand the charges and the possible penalties that come with a conviction.
Learn more about these laws on FindLaw’s assault and battery legal answers page.
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Nd Degree Assault Minn Stat 609222
2nd degree assault is a serious felony and involves the use or display of a weapon. According to a Minnesota law a dangerous weapon is defined as, in part, any firearm, whether loaded or unloaded or any device designed as a weapon and capable of producing death or great bodily harm. In more basic terms, a dangerous weapon can be a number of things, including a firearm, a knife, a bottle, your car, or any other object reasonably likely to produce death or great bodily harm. 2nd degree assault is punishable up to 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
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Simple Vs Aggravated Assault
Simple Assault is when your acts cause apprehension to physical harm to the victim. The threat may either cause minimal injuries or not. Simple Assault carries misdemeanor penalties. Alternatively, aggravated Assault involves Assault by inflicting severe bodily injuriesfor example, an assault where the perpetrator uses caustic chemicals to commit the crime.
In the aggravated Assault, the prosecutor must prove your intent to inflict significant bodily injuries. The law considers aggravated Assault a misdemeanor. When charged with a felony, the crime counts as a strike under the California three strikes laws.
The Difference Between Assault And Battery In Arizona
Assault and battery are crimes paired together: the crime of threatening a person paired with the act of making physical contact with them. Arizona prosecutes both crimes very seriously. Both crimes involve threatening harm or actually causing harm to another person. Whats the difference between assault and battery? The laws surrounding assault and battery in Arizona can be complicated. So, it is important to hire an experienced defense attorney for your legal defense.
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Your Actions Were In Self
If you were defending yourself or another person but ended up using violence or force against your alleged victim, you cannot be guilty of assault. In this case, a San Diego assault attorney will argue that you had reasonable belief you or another person was in danger of bodily harm. Using force or violence was the only way to get yourself out of the situation, but you ended up using more force/violence than necessary.
Understanding Washingtons Assault Laws
Assault and battery are similar offenses often penalized as separate crimes in several states across the country. However, in Washington, battery simply falls under the umbrella of assault crimes. Still, its worth recognizing the distinction in definitions, and the way assault crimes are punished.
Typically, battery involves offensive or harmful touching, whereas assault is an offense where one attempts to commit battery using threats. These definitions and consequential penalties vary by state.
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What Is The Definition Of Assault
Assault is often defined as any intentional act that causes another person to fear an attack or imminent physical harm. This definition recognizes that placing another person in fear of bodily harm is itself an act deserving of punishment, even if the victim of the assault is not physically harmed. This definition also allows police officers to intervene and make an arrest without waiting for the assaulter to actually strike the victim.
Assault example: Snider is walking down a city street carrying a bottle of soda. Mantle, walking along the same street in the opposite direction, sees Snider approaching. Because of Snider’s reputation as a hothead, Mantle immediately becomes fearful that Snider will swing the bottle at him when their paths cross. As they walk past each other, nothing happens. Snider has not committed an assault. Snider has a right to carry a bottle of soda in public, and Mantle’s fear of being hit was not the result of Snyder’s intentionally threatening behavior. But now assume that, as they draw closer, Snider draws back his fist and tells Mantle “You’re going to pay for stealing my collection of baseball pennants.” As Snider begins to swing his fist in Mantle’s direction, Mantle sprints away and escapes harm. Here, Snider has committed an assault. His intentional conduct placed Mantle in reasonable fear of immediate bodily harm.
What If I Just Made A Threat And Didnt Intend To Act On It
Threats can truly come back to bite you. Even if you werent going to cause an imminent , a Criminal Threat, falling under California PC 422, is a strike-able offense. If you threaten something specific, electronically or verbally, and it makes someone afraid you are going to hurt them or their family, you could be charged. When in doubt, dont make the threat, or if too late, contact a defense attorney right away.
Find a successful end to your search for lawyers near me with Proper Defense, one of the most compassionate Fresno law firms in the criminal justice space according to dozens of reviews on Avvo, an online Fresno attorneys directory. While often sought as a Fresno lawyer, Proper Defense serves the Greater Central Valley area, including Clovis, Coalinga, Kingsburg, Hanford, Madera, Merced, Porterville, Reedley, Sanger, Selma, and Tulare.
Contact us today for an initial consultation at 825-3800 or schedule an appointment online on our Contact Us page. It gets better with Proper Defense, we promise.
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Defenses To Assault Charges
Here are some of the defenses the lawyers from the Superior Law Center will use to get you off the hook:
You Didnt Intend to Inflict Violence or Force
Sometimes, regrettable things happen in the heat of the moment. Our attorneys may argue that you didnt intend to use violence. Perhaps, you cannot even inflict violence on the alleged victim. Or you got involved in a bar brawl, and while being pulled away by your buddies, you lashed out and hit someone. Regardless of the circumstances of your case, we will try to prove that youre not guilty of assault.
What Evidence Is Needed To Prosecute A Case Like That
We would need the victim, being the person who was allegedly assaulted, to show up and then there is usually some documentation of the injury. Also, because these types of stories tend to be inconsistent, its necessary to establish some consistency in the stories.
For more information on Assault And Battery, a free initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers youre seeking by calling 442-8343 today
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How Is Sexual Assault Punished
Florida law enforcement officers pursue sexual assault cases as felonies. That means you can face severe fines and jail time if convicted. You can expect the following criminal charges if convicted:
- $10,000 in fines and up to 15 years in prison for felony charges
- $15,000 in fines and up to life in prison for aggravated sexual assault
- Between 25 years and life in prison for capital charges for victims between the ages of 12 and 18
- Sex offender registration
Additional Effects Of Battery
The battery victims can sue the perpetrators for their injuries and damages. Note the court may also not find the defendant guilty of the crime provided you committed battery other civil crimes might fall to you. The law in California treats civic crimes with seriousness when found guilty, you might even face additional charges. The plaintiff only needs to demonstrate that the battery occurred. You want to work with your attorney to avoid facing the severe penalties of a battery charge.
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Do All Sexual Battery & Assault Charges Result In Conviction
Being accused of sexual battery or assault in Florida doesnt mean youll get convicted. Youll get your day in court to prove your case against your alleged victim.
The prosecution needs to prove the factors below to get a successful conviction:
- The victim was held against their will
- The victim was incapacitated
- The defendant touched the victims private parts
What Types Of People Are Charged With Assault
People charged with assault charges are not necessarily violent people I handled an assault charge that was not charged as assault, but rather disorderly conduct, in which the man accidentally bumped into a girl on the side of the street. People charged with assault can be of any age, although some of the most common are people in a relationship, say as a boyfriend and girlfriend, fighting at home in a domestic violence situation, or employees and employers yelling at each other on the job.
Not all assaults are physical and they dont have to result in injury sometimes an assault charge can come from a threat made over the phone or something that merely provokes another person, in which no one has been injured.
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Contact A Florida Aggravated Assault Attorney
If you or a loved one is accused of aggravated assault, you can count on the attorneys at Meltzer & Bell, P.A. in West Palm Beach for skilled advice and representation. We know too well that a lot is at stake, and can do everything to protect your right and secure the best possible outcome.
From the onset, a top-rated violet crimes lawyer will be assigned to your case, analyze its facts, and build a foolproof defense. Contact us to schedule a free case consultation.
Battery Assault And Domestic Violence
Assaults against family or household members are considered domestic assaults and are charged as misdemeanors unless there is an aggravating circumstance or unless the defendant has prior convictions for domestic violence.
In Virginia, family and household members include:
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Aggravated Assault Vs Aggravated Battery: Whats The Difference
According to Florida law, assault and battery are two different crimes, but they can be committed concurrently. The primary distinction between the two crimes is that aggravated assault involves fear of immediate harm, whereas battery involves intentional and unwanted contact.
For instance, if you corner another individual while holding a deadly weapon and threaten them, the victim will have a fear of getting harmed. That constitutes assault, and you dont have to touch the victim to face charges. Conversely, battery involves hitting the victim.
Thus, the main difference between aggravated assault and aggravated battery is that the former involves the intent to cause harm, whereas the latter entails causing harm. The two charges arent necessarily mutually exclusive but often get charged together, especially when actual contact is made.
Different Types Of Battery And Assault
You face a misdemeanor or felony charge for committing battery and assault based on the threat’s severity and the facts surrounding your case. Federal law considers the crime of assault a felony. A felony charge attracts a jail term of ten years, while a misdemeanor charge attracts a 12-month jail term. The punishment for assault varies based on the nature of the crime and the defendant’s criminal history.
When an assault crime does not involve using a firearm or weapon, the court considers it a misdemeanor. However, the penalties escalate when you use a gun to commit a crime. For example, assault in the first degree involving firearm use and severe injuries can attract long jail terms and heavy fines.
The prosecutor also tries to discover whether the alleged victim is a vulnerable member of the community. Vulnerable members of the community include the elderly, expectant mothers, minors, and people living with disabilities. When any of these groups of people are involved in an assault case, the fines are huge. The following are the common forms of assault:
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