BATTERY OR ASSAULT OFFENSES
Victim crimes are taken very seriously by the State Attorney’s Office. In addition, the Florida legislature passed the victim’s right bill to make sure victims are fully informed during each state of the criminal process. Therefore, when charged with a battery or assault charge, it is very important to get legal representation early in the process to help provide the prosecutor with your version of events and any possible defenses that you might have.
There are four common victim crimes under the assault and battery classification. They include:
1. Assault
2. Aggravated Assault w/ a Deadly Weapon
3. Battery
4. Aggravated Battery
Assault charges require the State to prove three elements:
1. The defendant intentionally and unlawfully threatened, either by word or act, to do violence to victim;
2. At the time, the defendant appeared to have the ability to carry out the threat, and
3. The act of the defendant created in the mind of the victim a well-founded fear that the violence was about to take place.
Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon requires the State to prove all the elements of an assault, plus that the assault was made with a deadly weapon. While a simple assault is only a misdemeanor, an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon is a third degree felony.
Battery requires the state to prove either one of the following elements:
1. The defendant intentionally touched or struck the victim against his or her will, or
2. The defendant intentionally caused bodily harm to the victim.
Aggravated Battery requires the state to prove all the elements of the battery, plus prove that the defendant either used a deadly weapon or caused great bodily harm to the victim, permanent disability to the victim, or permanent disfigurement to the victim.
When it comes to defending against assault or battery charges, self-defense is the most common defense. The state must not only prove the elements of the offense, but they must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant did not act in self-defense. This places a very high burden on the state and in most cases, a strong self-defense argument can lead to a not guilty verdict during trial. If the case goes to trial, the state will usually rely on a combination of photo evidence, 911 calls, unbiased corroborating witnesses, and incriminating statements from the defendant to try to establish that the assault or battery took place.
At the Law Office of Bhavik Patel, we carefully analyze each piece of evidence the state has against our clients in assault and battery cases. In these types of cases, the victim is likely to share some blame for the incident and we will work to uncover possible motives for bringing assault and battery allegations against our clients.