Opinion ID: 2757999
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Applicable Utah Statutes

Text: The version of Utah’s aggravated assault statute in place when Leal-Rax was convicted in 2008, Utah Code Ann. § 76-5-103, defined the offense as follows: (1) A person commits aggravated assault if he commits assault as defined in Section 76-5-102 and he: (a) intentionally causes serious bodily injury to another or; (b) under circumstances not amounting to a violation of Subsection (1)(a), uses a dangerous weapon as defined in Section 76-1-601 or other means or force likely to produce death or serious bodily injury. (2) A violation of Subsection (1)(a) is a second degree felony. (3) A violation of Subsection (1)(b) is a third-degree felony. 25 Thus, commission of an aggravated assault under § 76-5-103 requires commission of an underlying assault, defined under § 76-5-102(1) as (a) an attempt, with unlawful force or violence, to do bodily injury to another; (b) a threat, accompanied by a show of immediate force or violence, to do bodily injury to another; or 25 Utah Code Ann. § 76-5-103 (West 2008). 8 Case: 14-40019 Document: 00512858868 Page: 9 Date Filed: 12/05/2014 No. 14-40019 (c) an act, committed with unlawful force or violence, that causes bodily injury to another or creates a substantial risk of bodily injury to another. 26 Ordinary recklessness suffices as the mens rea for aggravated assault not involving the intentional infliction of serious bodily injury. 27 Thus, the Utah statute applicable in 2008 on its face was divisible between an assault resulting in serious bodily injury and an assault using “a dangerous weapon . . . or other means or force likely to produce death or serious bodily injury.” 28 The statute also could be violated by attempted or threatened assaults using such means. 29