Assault & Battery Lawyers
It could happen when a fight breaks out in a bar or at a stadium where fans for different teams turn violent during a game. It could happen in the bedrooms and living rooms of homes where husbands and wives or boyfriends and girlfriends let emotions get the best of them and things turn nasty. All of these examples carry with them the potential for violence and when that occurs, assault or battery charges can be filed by the authorities.
What is an Assault?
Essentially, an assault is defined by one person attempting to physically injure another person or person and a battery occurs when an injury is actually inflicted. You may not know this but authorities can even charge a crime when they believe someone even threatened or attempted to hurt someone else but actually didn’t.
The charges and possible penalties can become even more serious when weapons or objects used as weapons are involved. These charges can be filed either as misdemeanors, which carry local jail term, or felonies, in which a defendant can be sent away to prison.
- Assault is the threat or attempt to strike another person. You can still be charged with assault even if you did not successfully strike the other person as long as they were aware that you intended to strike them. Of course, the accused must be capable of the assault in the first place. Assault does not require the physical touching of the victim.
- Aggravated assault is an attack while committing another crime. An example of an aggravated assault would be beating a person while robbing them. Committing a violent crime such as assault and aggravated assault allows for criminal charges as well as a civil wrong lawsuit.
What is Battery?
Although most often directly associated with assault, battery is a crime in its own right. Battery describes the incident of striking someone on purpose with the expectations of harming or disrespecting them. Unintentional contact, no matter how severe, is not necessarily battery no matter how great the harm.
Battery is also divided into several sub-types. These subdivisions usually include:
- Simple battery: any non-consensual, insulting, or hurtful contact
- Sexual battery: battery in the context of a sexual situation
- Domestic violence battery: battery that occurs in the home between partners
- Aggravated battery: an offense that results in serious bodily harm
A battery charge reflects the severity of the damage caused by the act. A misdemeanor battery charge usually has criminal consequences as well as liability for a civil lawsuit, while more drastic crimes can incur fines of up to $2000 as well as up to six months in jail.
It is very important that if you are charged with such crimes that you obtain the services of experienced assault and battery lawyers, as soon as possible to enable them to begin analyzing and investigating the allegations and protecting your legal rights.
There is a lot at stake in such cases. You or a loved one obviously faces the possibility of jail or prison but also could be exposed to paying large fines, making expensive restitution payments and being placed on probation, in which the individual may have to regularly report to authorities and also agree to random searches and seizure of his or her property. There is also the possibility of being ordered to attend anger management classes, loss of employment, suspension or revocation of a driver’s license, losing the right to possess a weapon and a criminal record that could have a significant and detrimental effect on your future.
Assault and battery cases typically involve heated emotions in which one person may have an agenda against another and exaggerate what happened. Sometimes, after emotions cool, the versions of what occurred change. Police often err on the side of protecting who is perceived to be the victim, whether that is the true situation or not. Officers commonly do not ask the right questions or are ignorant of important facts, such as whether there was provocation or self-defense. There can be a long history of problems in a relationship of which investigators also are unaware.
Those any many more factors are among the pieces of evidence that an experienced attorney will present on your behalf. Contact an criminal defense lawyer today to review your case!
