Thursday, July 5, 2012

Crimes of Assault in the State of Texas

The crime of assault in the state of Texas is a criminal charge which involves the use of violence and will be taken very seriously, particularly if a weapon was used or if an injury resulted. Depending on the surrounding circumstances, criminal assault may be either a misdemeanor or a felony with a wide variety of penalties and punishments. For instance, simple assault is a misdemeanor meaning a police officer must see you commit the assault prior to making an arrest—unless domestic violence is charged. Further, simple assault can be charged even if you never actually hit someone. A person could be having a verbal altercation with a neighbor, reach out and poke the neighbor in the chest with their finger to make their point and could find themselves under assault charges.

What is Texas Assault?

The threat of harm can result in being charged with assault among other actions such as: intentionally or recklessly causing bodily injury to another person, including your domestic partner. Intentionally causing physical contact with another person when you are fully aware that contact will be deemed offensive or unwanted is also considered criminal assault under Texas law. This means that while you can be charged with assault for hitting, kicking or choking another person, you could also be charged with assault if you threaten to do any of those things or if another person believes and fears harm from you.

Penalties for Assault in the State of Texas

Simple assault will generally be charged as a Class A misdemeanor assuming only minor injuries are involved. Even in the case of a simple assault you may still receive a fine in an amount up to $4,000. If your crime of assault is raised to a third-degree felony you could be looking at two years to ten years in a Texas state prison. Simple assault could be charged as a third-degree felony if the assault was committed against a member of your family or your spouse or partner and can also be bumped up to third degree if you committed assault against any type of public servant or if you knew the person you assaulted was a security guard or emergency services employee.

Should you have only pushed or shoved another person it would typically be charged as a misdemeanor, however if that person was elderly or a sports officiator the charges could be upgraded to a Class B misdemeanor. The stakes—and punishment—go up if you are charged with using a weapon during the assault. The use of a weapon turns misdemeanor charges into aggravated assault charges—a second-degree felony. The penalty for aggravated assault brings from two to twenty years in a Texas state prison and a fine of up to $10,000. Just as with a misdemeanor assault, if aggravated assault was committed against public officials, security guards or even witnesses to a crime or informants, it becomes a first-degree felony. The penalties for a first degree felony of aggravated assault are very severe—5-99 years in prison plus extensive fines.

Do I Have Any Defense to the Crime of Assault?

It’s extremely important that you retain the services of a highly experienced assault lawyer even before criminal assault charges have been formally filed if you have an inkling that they will be. You will need every shred of help you can get to avoid being sent to prison and spending the remainder of your life dealing with the long-term effects of such a conviction. Unless you intend to claim you did not commit the assault, your attorney will need to come up with a plausible defense. Your attorney may choose to dispute whether the assault—in the legal sense of the definition—actually occurred or may question the evidence of the alleged assault. Should there have been eyewitness testimony, your attorney may challenge whether that eyewitness actually saw what they say they saw.

Affirmative Defenses in the Charge of Assault

An affirmative defense may be offered, meaning you admit you committed the assault but believe you had a legal reason. In other words, you assaulted the other person either to prevent them from harming you or someone in your family or to prevent them from stealing something from you. Whichever direction your attorney chooses to go with your assault defense, you must be represented aggressively if you’ve been charged with assault. Perhaps you were drinking and used poor judgment, in which case you should not have to spend years and years in prison and have your entire future wrecked. Generally speaking people are allowed under Texas law to use reasonable force to protect themselves from harm. Of course this defense assumes you did not start the altercation.

Getting Professional Legal Help

Even if you do not feel you actually committed assault against another person, the legal system takes a fairly harsh view of any form of criminal assault. It’s extremely important that you have a highly experienced criminal assault attorney by your side, advocating for your rights and looking out for your future.

Author: Sullo & Sullo Attorneys

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