Aggravated battery (aggravated assault) is a criminal charge that has to be fought head-on with an experienced criminal defense attorney. You can't think that you can just throw together a defense at the last minute because trying to do this can backfire on you. You may get years in prison. In these cases, you have to look at the case that the prosecution is going to present so that you can fire back against the accusations.
One of the most important things that you need to do when you are preparing your defense is to know some basics about assault and battery in this state. This means knowing the difference between battery and assault. While some people lump these together, this isn't the case in the eyes of the law.
Assault vs. battery
The biggest difference between assault and battery in legal terms is that assault doesn't involve physical contact but battery does involve physical contact and threat to bodily harm. Assault has to do with intimidating or threatening a victim in a manner that implies that you will physically harm the person. The threat must be real and believable by a reasonable person.
Battery occurs when you lay a hand, or any other object, for instance, a deadly weapon, on a person. This must be done in a threatening or intimidating manner that causes harm. Typically, the harm that is caused must be intentional. This means that you usually can't accidentally batter someone.
Status of battery charges
The circumstances of the crime and the impacts that the battery has on the victim determine the status of a battery charge. This charge ranges from a misdemeanor to a felony, so this is one thing that you have to find out when you are facing any battery charge.
There are several points that can impact whether a battery is considered an aggravated battery or not. The age of the victim and the mental capacity can lead to an aggravated tag on the charge. The presence of a weapon might also lead to an aggravated battery charge.
Battery crimes that lead to severe injuries for the victim might be considered aggravated. It is also possible that the victims who suffer serious injuries might opt to pursue civil charges against the alleged batterer.
There isn't any room for a lax attitude when you are preparing your defense against these charges. You need to delve into every aspect of the case against you. The burden is on the prosecution to prove the claims that are made by them. Your burden is to make the jurors doubt those claims. The more holes you poke in the prosecution's case, the better.