Opinion ID: 215896
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Maine's Assault Statute

Text: Maine's simple assault statute provides that [a] person is guilty of assault if ... [t]he person intentionally, knowingly or recklessly causes bodily injury or offensive physical contact to another person. Me. Rev.Stat. Ann. tit. 17-A, § 207(1). To be convicted of assault under the statute, therefore, an individual must at a minimum be found to have acted recklessly. See State v. Patterson, 881 A.2d 649, 651 (Me.2005). Maine law defines recklessness to mean consciously disregard[ing] a risk in a manner that, when viewed in light of the nature and purpose of the person's conduct and the circumstances known to the person, constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of conduct that a reasonable and prudent person would observe in the same situation. Me. Rev.Stat. Ann. tit. 17-A, § 35(3).