Assault Is Not an Action, It’s an Attempt
Video Transcribed: So can I be charged with assault? What about battery? What about both? Well, hi, I’m Ty Smith, an Oklahoma City attorney with Wirth Law, and we get this question a lot because there are a lot of misconceptions about what is assault, what’s battery, and why am I charged with both. And we’ll break this down a little bit here today.
So assault has the misconception of being some type of an attack when in reality, assault is more the state of mind that you put an alleged victim in. When you threaten someone or you attempt to cause physical harm to that person, you are now guilty of assault.
If you threaten someone and then combine that with some physical action, you’ve created in the mind of the victim a feeling like they are about to be attacked. You say, “I’m going to hurt you,” and then you begin to run at them. You’ve committed assault, but it has nothing to do with actually touching them. That’s where battery comes in. Battery is a harmful or offensive touch, but we’ll get to that in a separate video. I’m going to also talk about battery and combine the two with assault and battery.
Simple assault is a misdemeanor in Oklahoma and it is punishable by a maximum of 30 days in prison or a $500 fine. And you should hire an attorney if the state brings an assault charge against you. Because typically, especially if it is your first criminal allegation laid against you, then a good attorney can get that either dismissed or can at least get that pled down to something much less offensive on your criminal record.
If you or someone you know is facing an assault charge, feel free to contact me, an Oklahoma criminal defense lawyer, at Wirth Law Office. I am at theoklahomacityattorney.com. I would love to talk to you about this.
