Battery Causing Serious Bodily Injury
What is Battery Causing Serious Bodily Injury?
Battery causing serious bodily injury, also known as aggravated battery, is when a person willfully touches another person in a harmful manner and causes serious bodily injury to the person touched. In order to be guilty of this crime, you have to have:
- Touched someone else,
- Done so willfully, and
- Done so in a harmful manner.
Penalties for Battery Causing Serious Bodily Injury
Battery causing serious bodily injury is a wobbler, meaning it can be charged as a misdemeanor or a felony. This depends on the facts of the case and the defendant’s criminal history. When charged as a misdemeanor the penalties include:
- Misdemeanor probation,
- Up to 1 year in a county jail, and/or
- Up to $1,000 in fines.
When charged as a felony the penalties include:
- Felony probation,
- Two, three, or four years in a county jail, and/or
- A fine up to $10,000.
In addition, if charged as a felony, you will lose the right to own firearms in California.
Legal Defenses for Battery Causing Serious Bodily Injury
When you have a crime like this on your record, people assume that you are a violent person. It can affect whether you get hired for a job or your legal rights over your children. It is a serious crime that can greatly impact your life. That’s why it’s important to have an experienced criminal defense lawyer fighting for you. Here are some of the most common legal defenses for battery causing serious bodily injury.
You acted in self-defense.
You could have been acting in self-defense for yourself or for someone else if:
- You reasonably believed that you or someone else was in imminent danger of suffering bodily injury or being unlawfully touched,
- You reasonably believed that in order to stop the perpetrator, the use of immediate force was necessary for defense.
- You used no more force than was reasonably necessary to defend yourself or another person from danger.
You didn’t do so willfully.
This is also known as an accident. If you didn’t touch someone willfully, then you can’t be guilty of this crime. Perhaps you tripped and accidentally fell into someone, and the person was injured as a result. You shouldn’t be guilty of this crime when it was an accident. An experienced criminal defense lawyer will know the right questions to ask to get to the truth.
The injury wasn’t serious.
There is no perfectly defined definition for serious bodily injury. It is up to the jury to decide whether the victim suffered serious bodily injury. If an experienced criminal defense lawyer can reveal what the victim’s injuries actually were, then they may be able to reduce the sentence to simple battery.
Fresno Attorney for Battery Causing Serious Bodily Injury
If you have been charged with battery causing serious bodily injury, hire an experienced criminal defense lawyer to fight for you!