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Jose Rivera Managing Editor Editor. Last Updated: Feb 5, Choose Your Legal Category: Family. Criminal Defense. Real Estate. Criminal Defense. Domestic Violence Criminal Charges. Domestic Simple Assault. Domestic Simple Assault Assault and Battery If you or a loved one has been the victim of domestic violence, it is not uncommon for a simple assault or assault and battery to have occurred.
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Justia Law Firm Website Design. In states that define assault as placing a victim in fear of violence, the victim's response must not only be genuine but reasonable under the circumstances.
The test normally is whether the defendant's actions would cause a reasonable person to be in fear of an immediate physical attack. In other words, the response should be what you would expect from any reasonable person in the victim's position.
Simple assault, usually charged as a misdemeanor, is the least serious form of assault. It involves minor injury or a limited threat of violence. In states where assault is a physical attack, pushing someone or slapping someone in an argument are instances of simple assault. Where the law defines assault as threatening behavior that puts another in fear, threatening to punch someone would be a simple assault. Aggravated assault involves circumstances that make the crime more serious, as when the assault is committed with a deadly weapon or results in serious injury that requires hospitalization or surgery or disfigures the victim.
To learn more about aggravated assault, see our article on Aggravated Assault. In many states, simple assault against certain individuals who are either particularly vulnerable a disabled or elderly person or work in service to the community police officers or emergency medical care providers is treated differently and considered a more serious crime than simple assault against a person without this special status.
A simple assault against one of these designated individuals may be defined as a more serious misdemeanor or even a felony; or may subject the offender to a minimum jail sentence or sentencing enhancement more jail time than is normally imposed for the crime of simple assault. Those who are designated members of a protected class vary from state to state but, in addition to those mentioned above, they can include:. In order for a defendant to be convicted of simple assault, the prosecutor or district attorney must prove every aspect of the crime called the "elements" of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.
The evidence must show:. Because a verbal threat alone does not constitute an assault, the prosecutor's case must include evidence of more than a person yelling, "I'm going to kill you! To learn more about possible defenses, see I unintentionally hurt someone. Can I be charged with assault? Defendants charged with simple assault have the usual defenses available to all criminal defendants, starting with "You've got the wrong person, it wasn't me.
That defense may take the form of showing that the other person actually threw the first blow, the defendant could not safely retreat, and he had to take physical action to stop the attack or to protect himself.
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