What started as a minor argument could easily end in assault and battery charges. These are considered serious offenses in California. Therefore, hiring an attorney is one of the first things you should do if you face charges for the offense. Assault and battery are two distinct crimes, but both have the potential to land you in jail and affect other areas of your life, including your career.

California Criminal Lawyer Group helps you fight assault and battery charges in California. We work with the best lawyers who understand the criminal defense system and California law. They will spend time understanding your case, investigating, speaking to witnesses and the victims, and fighting these charges.

Legal Definitions

Unlike what most people believe, assault and battery are not the same crime. Assault under the California Penal Code 240 PC is an unlawful attempt coupled with the ability to cause violent injury to another person. The crime requires the following elements for you to be convicted:

  • You committed an act that could result in the use of force on another person.
  • The act was willful
  • You were aware that the act would lead a reasonable person to believe that the act could lead to the application of force.
  • You had the present ability to apply force to that person

The law goes further to explain these elements as follows:

  • Applying force includes any harmful or offensive touching. It could include the slightest touch made rudely or offensively. Application of force also refers to any touching even if the victim suffered no injury or harm. You could also be guilty of applying force if you used or caused an object to touch someone else offensively. Unsuccessful attempts to apply force also count as assault.
  • Acting willfully means you acted on purpose or willingly whether or not you intended to break the law, hurt someone, or gain an advantage.
  • The awareness that the act could lead to the application of force when you committed the crime means that, under the circumstances, the act you committed could have resulted in the use of force against another person. For example, you would be guilty of committing assault if you swing a baseball bat near another person.

Under California Penal Code 242 PC, battery is the willful and unlawful use of violence or force against another person. The elements of battery include:

  • You touched another person
  • Willfully
  • In an offensive or harmful way

Touching someone means making physical contact with that person with or without the intention to cause harm or injury. Under this law, touching includes physical contact through someone’s clothing or indirectly through using another object.

In California, battery would also include touching something intimately connected to a person other than their body parts, for example, something they are holding in their hand.

You must have acted willingly or on purpose, with or without the intention to gain an advantage, break the law, or injure the victim.

The touching must also be harmful or offensive for you to be considered guilty of battery. Harmful or offensive touching means that you touched the person violently, rudely, angrily, or disrespectfully.

So what is the difference between assault and battery?

An assault involves the possibility of inflicting physical harm on another person, while battery involves the actual infliction of physical harm, force, or violence on another person. In other words, when you attempt to scare someone with a baseball bat, you could be charged with assault. However, if you hit that person with the bat, then you have committed battery.

Assault and Battery Offenses

Assault and battery consist of several offenses, which the prosecution might bring against you depending on the case's facts. Some of the common assault cases:

Simple Assault

Simple assault is the attempt to touch someone unlawfully or apply physical force against the victim. Simple assault is a misdemeanor in California.

Assault With a Deadly Weapon

Assault with a deadly weapon is a crime where the offender uses a lethal weapon or another object likely to cause great bodily injury in an attempt to apply force or violence against another person. Some of the deadly weapons that could lead to this conviction include guns, knives, pencils, a BB gun, a dog that could attack someone if commanded, a car.

The court usually determines the deadliness of a weapon based on how the defendant used it. For example, if you attempt to attack someone with a beer bottle, then the beer bottle becomes a deadly weapon as it could cause great bodily injury.

Assault with a deadly weapon is a wobbler whose penalties depend on the aggravating and mitigating circumstances in the case. Using a firearm or assaulting a peace officer with a deadly weapon will result in a felony conviction. The type of weapon you used and the injury the victim suffered will affect the conviction and sentencing.

Assault on a Public Official

Assault on a public official is aggravated assault targeted at a public official with the foal to retaliate or prevent the official from performing their official duties. You can be charged for this offense for assaulting an immediate family member of the public official. A public official in California includes:

  • The US president or vice president
  • A governor of a US state or territory
  • A former or current federal, state, or local justice
  • Any subordinate judicial officer
  • A federal or state elected official
  • The secretary or director of any federal or state executive agency
  • A mayor, county supervisor, city council member, or peace officer
  • A current or former prosecutor or public defender

When you are accused of assaulting a public official, the prosecution must prove that your motive was to retaliate against the public official (for instance, retaliating against a judge who made a ruling against your loved one) or prevent them from performing their duties. If convicted, you could face penalties for a felony or misdemeanor based on other circumstances around the offense.

Assault With a Caustic Chemical

Assault with a caustic chemical is a serious offense, which involves willfully, and maliciously throwing or placing a caustic chemical, corrosive, or flammable substance onto another person with the intent to disfigure or injure the victim’s flesh. Caustic chemicals are any substances that can burn or corrode living tissue.

Due to the seriousness of the offense, assault with a caustic chemical is always a felony in California. The penalties could include up to four years in prison and heavy fines.

Simple Battery

Simple battery is the unlawful use of physical force, violence, or unwanted touching that causes minimal to no injury to the victim. The prosecution could charge you with simple battery if the victim was neither a peace officer nor another protected professional.

Aggravated Battery

Aggravated battery is a more serious offense where unwanted touching or physical force against another person causes serious bodily injury. A serious bodily injury could include fractures, serious disfigurement, loss of consciousness, or another form of impairment for which the victim requires medical treatment. Aggravated battery is a serious offense that could result in felony charges and sentence enhancements depending on the circumstances of the offense. 

Battery on a Peace Officer

Battery against a peace officer or another protected professional is a serious offense in California that could result in misdemeanor or felony charges depending on the case facts. A peace officer includes any person employed by the local, state, or federal government and is responsible for dealing with crime, reporting on crime, or offering emergency services. Some of the peace officers in California include police officers, harbor and port officers, highway patrol officers, lifeguards, EMTs and paramedics, lifeguards, and health professionals offering emergency medical care.

A conviction for battery on a peace officer requires the prosecution to prove that:

  • You battered a peace officer.
  • The peace officer was engaged in their duties at the time of the offense
  • You knew or should have reasonably known that he or she was a police officer

Factors that could indicate that a person is a peace officer include distinguishing uniform, the person identifies themselves, or they were in a marked and identifiable vehicle.

Domestic Battery

Domestic battery is a form of battery committed against a past or current intimate partner. A former or current intimate partner includes a cohabitant, a domestic partner, spouse, your child’s parent, or someone you dated. Spousal battery can escalate easily into a domestic violence charge and result in serious consequences, including fines, incarceration, and deportation (for non-US citizens).

Sexual Battery

Sexual battery involves the unlawful touching of another person's intimate parts for arousal, gratification, or abuse without the victim's consent. Sexual battery could also involve forcing the victim to touch another person’s or your intimate parts without their consent. Sexual battery can be simple or aggravating, depending on the circumstances. Some of the factors that lead to aggravated sexual battery include:

  • You restrained the victim against their will or unlawfully
  • You fraudulently misrepresented the nature of the act
  • The victim is institutionalized for medical care due to a physical or medical disability

The prosecution could also charge you with aiding or abetting sexual battery if you acted as an accomplice to the offender. An accomplice knows that the offender is committing a crime and helps the offender in any way or participates in the crime. Sexual battery can be a misdemeanor or a felony in California

Battery Against an Elderly or Dependent Adult

California makes it a crime to inflict physical or mental injury on an elderly person (any person 65 years or older). This offense is a wobbler in California, and a conviction could result in incarceration at a state prison.

Penalties of Assault and Battery

Simple assault (no aggravating factors) is a misdemeanor in California with penalties such as summary probation, up to six months in county jail, and up to $1,000 in fines.

The penalties could be higher in the presence of aggravating factors. Some aggravated forms of assault include assault on law enforcement or emergency professionals. You are guilty of this offense if the victim was a law enforcement officer, firefighter, EMT or paramedic, lifeguard, animal control officer, traffic officer, search and rescue member, doctor, or nurse offering emergency medical care.

The penalties for assault on law enforcement or emergency personnel include up to one year in county jail and up to $2,000 in fines.

Simple battery (does not cause serious injury and is not against law enforcement or a protected professional) is a misdemeanor in California. The penalties include misdemeanor probation, up to six months in county jail, and up to $2,000 in fines.

The victim could also file a civil lawsuit against you to recover any damages they suffered due to the act.

Other consequences of assault and battery charges could include:

  • Immigration consequences such as deportation or inadmissibility (if you are a non-US citizen and are arrested for an assault or battery offense, contact an attorney as soon as possible, and ensure that the attorney understands immigration laws and the consequences you are likely to face)
  • Loss of gun rights, especially for offenses such as assault with a deadly weapon or domestic battery
  • The requirement to register as a sex offender if you were convicted for sexual assault or battery

Legal Defenses

Contact a defense attorney whenever you are facing charges for assault or battery. A skilled attorney will help you prepare a defense strategy and represent you during the criminal court process. Here are some of the defenses a criminal defense attorney will assert to fight assault and battery charges:

1.  You Were Performing Your Duties

California considers it illegal for law enforcement to use excessive force in the performance of their duties. Therefore, if you are a law enforcement officer charged with assault or battery, you can fight these charges by asserting that the use of force was necessary to complete your duties. You, however, have to prove that you used reasonable force under the circumstances.

2.  Self Defense

Self-defense is an acceptable legal defense that must meet the following conditions:

  • You had a reasonable belief that you or another person was in imminent danger of being touched unlawfully or suffering bodily injury,
  • You had a reasonable belief that the immediate use of force was necessary to defend against the danger,
  • You did not use more force than was necessary to fight against that danger

Self-defense also applies  if you were the aggressor, as long as:

  • You indicated that you wanted to stop fighting, and
  • The other person failed to stop prompting you to use reasonable force to protect yourself

3.  No Willful Act

You are only guilty of assault or battery if you acted willfully. You are not guilty of assault or battery if you did not deliberately intend to touch someone unlawfully or inflict force. Accidental actions do not result in assault or battery.

In some cases, the victim might have misinterpreted your actions as meant to hurt them or touch them inappropriately. Your attorney will help you resolve this confusion by presenting your side of the story, and an explanation (theory) for the actions. Your attorney will also explain how the victim might have misinterpreted your actions.

4.  Parental Right to Discipline a Child

Parents have the right to use reasonable force to discipline their children. Therefore, if you face assault and battery charges for disciplining your child, your criminal defense attorney will help you prove that the force you used was within the allowed level for disciplining a child. 

Note that the court has to determine whether your actions were within what the constitution considers reasonable discipline of a child. It will consider factors such as:

  • The child’s age
  • The nature of punishment
  • The child’s comprehension of the discipline
  • The harm or injury to which the child was exposed

5.  Consent

Assault and battery occur when the touching is unwanted, forceful, and rude. However, if the other party consented to be touched, you cannot be guilty of assault and battery. Although you might use this defense, you have to prove that you did not touch the person beyond what they consented to. Consent usually arises for cases such as contact sports or sexual offenses.

6.  Lacking the Ability to Inflict Force

The prosecution has to prove that you could inflict force or physical violence at the time of the alleged offense. However, if you lacked this ability, the prosecution cannot establish your guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

7.  False Accusations

False accusations are common in assault and battery cases. Someone could accuse you of assaulting or battering him or her for revenge, jealousy, or another malicious motivation. Contacting an attorney is a smart move to help you fight false accusations and protect yourself from a wrongful conviction.

8.  Insufficient Evidence

The law requires the prosecution to prove every defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Therefore, they must provide adequate evidence that shows that you committed the crime. Your criminal defense attorney will examine the evidence the prosecution has and identify holes and missing links that he or she can exploit to show that the prosecution cannot prove your guilt.

Related Offenses

The prosecution could bring other charges against you alongside assault and battery charges. In some cases, the prosecution will charge you with these related offenses as a plea bargain. The common offenses related to assault and battery include:

1.  PC 415 Disturbing the Peace

PC 415 defines disturbing the peace as the crime of using offensive words or language, deafening noise, or getting into a fight with another person. Disturbing the peace is usually charged as a misdemeanor or a non-criminal infraction, depending on your criminal history and the facts of the offense.

In cases where the prosecution has insufficient evidence to secure a conviction for assault or battery, they might reduce the charges to disturbing the peace, which has lesser consequences. The maximum penalties for disturbing the peace include 90 days in jail, up to $400 in fines, or both jail and fines. Disturbing the peace is not a crime of moral turpitude. Therefore, it has no immigration consequences.

2.  VC 23110 Throwing an Object at a Motor Vehicle

Throwing objects at a car or a vehicle on a public road is an offense in California. The statute makes it a crime to throw any substance or harmful object with the intent to damage the vehicle or injure the occupants of the vehicle.

Throwing an object at a vehicle is a misdemeanor with penalties such as incarceration at the county jail for up to six months, a fine of up to $1,000, or misdemeanor probation. If you throw a dangerous object at a vehicle, you will face felony charges with penalties such as formal probation, up to three years in state prison, and up to $10,000 in fines. 

3.  PC 368 Elder Abuse

California Penal Code 368 defines elder abuse as the physical or emotional abuse, financial exploitation, or neglect of a person aged 65 or older. Willfully inflicting any form of physical, emotional, or financial abuse on an elderly person leading to unjustifiable pain or mental suffering for the victim is a misdemeanor or felony.

A felony offense has an additional requirement: the action you committed against the victim was likely to cause great bodily harm or even death.

If you are convicted for misdemeanor elder abuse, you face up to one year in county jail, up to six thousand dollars in fines, and victim restitution. A felony conviction for elder abuse includes penalties such as a maximum of four years in state prison, a fine of up to $10,000, and restitution to the victim. You can get an additional seven years in prison if the defendant suffers great bodily harm.

Elder abuse is a crime involving moral turpitude. Therefore, a conviction could result in serious immigration consequences, including deportation and inadmissibility.

Find an Assault and Battery Defense Attorney Near Me

When a simple altercation results in assault and battery charges, the best decision you can make is to hire an experienced defense attorney. The California criminal process can be complicated for the unaccustomed person. Therefore, it makes sense to work with an expert who spends their time defending people facing different criminal charges in California. California Criminal Lawyer Group helps you fight assault and battery charges by preparing a strong defense and representing you fully through every stage of the criminal process. Call 714-844-4151 to book your free consultation.