Home-based violence of any sort is a rather serious crime that may end up in a variety of punishments. Frequently the term battery is coupled with assault in charges. Assault reflects any actions that create the sense of harm or offensive touching may ensue. Battery is real physical harm caused by contact. In other words, assault has no physical element. Both assault and domestic battery carry criminal and civil liabilities.
Assault and battery are misdemeanors. Battery becomes a transgression nevertheless , when criminal desire is involved (such as the intent to rape). In addition, felony charges may happen if the battery encompasses a weapon. In both attack and battery the intention of the accused is a main factor. If the defendant did not intend harm the accuser it's especially hard to get a battery charge to stick. For example, say that a pair have a mutual pursuit like fencing or soccer and one partner gets hurt by the other. Here there is the absence of intention as well as the injured person consenting to the activity. As long as that consent came voluntarily, there is no ground for battery. Note however that any such injury has to come from what would be thought to be a normal activity within the scope of the sport or hobby.
Another example in which domestic battery charges may not stick is in the case of self-defense. An individual can protect themselves from harm using justifiable force. If a partner initiates a verbal fight and the other partner replies with physical force, the first partner can respond to protect themselves till the aggressor stops. At that point the aggressor can't claim battery as they began physical contact. The only mitigating issue is determining if the force used by the person defending themselves was reasonable based on the situation (the scale of the person, their strength etc.).
Domestic battery charges that originate from protecting some other person in the household have similar difficulties. The individual being protected my swear to approaching danger for any physical showdown to come under the heading of ‘protecting others’.
The implications of being found guilty include having to pay compensatory and/or punishing damages to the individual injured along with legal and medical bills and lost wages from work. With these sorts of complications and potential punishments it is smart to get legal counsel acquainted with domestic law and criminal culpability.
This piece of writing is for informative uses only. You should usually talk to your attorney prior to making any legal calls. The Mays Legal Firm isn't responsible for action taken based upon info in this article.
Stephen Mays owns of The Mays Law Firm a legal company in Brevard County offering free consultations from their internet site for criminal defense cases.