Looking for an Assault and Battery Defense Lawyer in West Michigan to help you fight for your rights?
“Battery” is a deliberately touching a person (or something closely attached to said person) that is offensive or harmful to that individual. “Simple assault” is an act which leads a person to reasonably assume that a battery will be imminent. An attempted battery is also considered an assault. Michigan law specifies several categories of assaults, based on the circumstances of the assault and the severity of the abuse suffered by the victim. A “simple” assault and battery is a misdemeanor, 93 days in jail and fines of up to $500 are the possible. Usage of a weapon during an assault or battery would raise the charges to the level of a felony.
Michigan Assault and Battery Defense Attorneys
What started off as a normal conversation escalated. Tempers flared, words were said, and the police were called. Now, you’re left with feelings of regret and charges for assault and battery. You never meant for this to happen, and now you have to figure out what you’re going to do.
There’s no way you want this silly argument to leave a lasting mark on your criminal record, but what should you do? First of all, take a deep breath and stay calm. At Weise Law, we’re here for you. We’ll help you figure out exactly what you need to do.
First, we’ll help you understand what your Michigan assault and battery charges mean and how a future conviction could impact you. Then, we’ll answer some important questions you might be wondering. These are the top questions our clients facing assault and battery charges ask when we meet.
At Weise Law, we are always ready to help you. If you have questions about your case and want to speak with an actual human, give us a call at (616) 931-7030. Or, if you’d rather send us an email, go here to contact us.
What is assault and battery?
Assault and battery are actually two different crimes that are often charged together. If you’ve been charged with assault, it means you’re accused of threatening another person to the extent that he or she feels unsafe. Even if you just spoke angry words, if you’ve caused another person to fear for his or her life, it could be enough for you to be convicted.
A conviction of assault without a dangerous weapon results in a misdemeanor on your criminal record. You could also face:
- up to 93 days in jail,
- a fine of up to $500, or
- both.
If you’ve been charged with aggravated assault, it means you’re accused of assault with the intent to inflict serious injury. An aggrivated assault that didn’t result in murder is a misdemeanor charge, but prosecutors will look for ways to boost your charges up to a felony. You could also face:
- up to 10 years in prison,
- a fine of up to $5,000, or
- both.
If you’ve been charged with battery, it means you’re accused of taking action to harm another person. This could mean you’re accused of hitting someone. However, battery also includes threatening a person with a weapon. Even if you didn’t use your weapon to hurt the person—if you just showed your weapon—this could be enough for a conviction.
So, if you’ve been accused of battery, you’ve also probably been accused of assault. When someone has been beaten or shown a deadly weapon, that person would probably fear for his or her life. Therefore, assault charges normally accompany battery charges.
A conviction of assault and battery is a felony. You could face:
- up to a year in jail,
- a fine of up to $1,000, or
- both.
Some examples of assault and battery include:
- Threatening someone.
- Punching, hitting, or kicking someone.
- Unwanted sexual advances.
- Pointing a weapon at someone.
- Use of a weapon.
What are some other types of assault and battery charges?
Oftentimes, some other words are added to assault and battery charges so the verbiage is more specific about what has happened. Below, you’ll find information about some of the more common varieties of assault and battery charges.
Felonious Assault
Assault and battery charges often accompany more serious felony charges. If you’re charged with committing a felonious assault, it means you’re accused of committing assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. Often, people accused of robbery or kidnapping face felonious assault charges.
A conviction of this charge will result in a felony on your criminal record. You could also face:
- up to 4 years in prison,
- a fine of up to $2,000, or
- both.
However, if the assault was committed in a weapon-free school area, you could face:
- up to 4 years in prison,
- a fine of up to $6,000, and
- up to 150 hours of community service.
If your felonious assault charges are in conjunction with charges for burglary, rape, or kidnapping; the assault charge is punishable by:
- up to 10 years in prison,
- a fine of up to $5,000, or
- both.
However, the consequences are a little different if your felonious assault charges are in conjunction with robbery charges. If you were unarmed, you face up to 15 years in prison. Unfortunately, if you were armed with a dangerous weapon—a knife, a gun, or brass knuckles—you could face life in prison.
Domestic Violence Assault
If you have been charged with domestic violence assault, it means you are accused of committing assault against your spouse, former spouse, current or previous housemate, parent of your child, or person you’re dating. Domestic violence charges are taken very seriously by prosecutors. Although your victim may not wish to press charges, it’s entirely up to the prosecutor.
A first-time conviction of domestic violence assault or assault and battery is a misdemeanor. You could face:
- up to 93 days in jail,
- a fine of up to $500,
- up to 2 years of probation, and
- restitution.
But, there’s good news for first-time offenders. Even if you’re charged and found guilty, you may be eligible for a deferral. A deferral ensures that your domestic violence charges will never go on your record. This is because the state of Michigan understands that many domestic violence cases are one-time mistakes that won’t be repeated.
However, if this is your second conviction for domestic violence assault or assault and battery, it’s a felony. This means you could face:
- up to 1 year in jail,
- a fine of up to $1,000,
- up to 2 years of probation, and
- restitution.
If you are convicted of aggravated domestic assault or assault and battery, it is a felony. Even if this is the first time you’ve been charged or convicted, the seriousness of the assault or assault and battery makes this crime a felony. You could face:
- up to 1 year in jail,
- a fine of up to $1,000,
- up to 2 years of probation, and
- restitution.
However, if you have a prior conviction for aggravated domestic violence assault or assault and battery, your consequences are more serious. Consequences for a second aggravated domestic violence assault include:
- up to 2 years in prison,
- a fine of up to $5,000,
- up to 5 years of probation, and
- restitution.
Assault with the Intent to Maim
If you are facing charges of assault with the intent to maim, it means you’re accused of trying to remove a portion of another person’s face or body. This is a very serious charge and prosecutors will be doing their best to make sure you’re charged with a felony. You could also face:
- up to 10 years in prison,
- a fine of up to $5,000, or
- both.
Assault with the Intent to Commit Murder
If you are being charged with assault with the intent to commit murder, you need to seek legal help immediately. This is an incredibly serious charge and could result in a lifetime prison sentence.
However, if you only intended to commit great bodily harm to the victim—not murder—you might be eligible for reduced punishment. This would include:
- up to 10 years in prison,
- a fine of up to $5,000, or
- both.
What should I do if the police want me to make a statement?
“You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.” If you were formally charged with assault and battery in Michigan, your arresting officer should have read you your Miranda Rights. Your Miranda Rights let you know that, among other things, you have the right to remain silent and the right to an attorney.
You should absolutely take advantage of your legal rights and refuse to comment if the police ask you to come in and make a statement. No matter how many times they ask you to come in, you have the right to refuse each and every time. There is nothing they can do to legally force you to speak with them without your lawyer present.
Maybe you’re thinking that if you come in now and make a statement, they’ll go easy on you and reduce your charges. That would be nice, right? Sure, it would. But, as you can probably imagine, that’s not really how the police work. (Instead, it’s the prosecuting attorney who is authorized to make deals with you.)
If the police are asking you to come in and make a statement, you need to hire an experienced lawyer. You want to find someone who has experience with Michigan assault and battery charges. Specifically, you want to find someone who has a winning record handling cases similar to yours.
What if you are being falsely accused of assault or battery?
But, I didn’t do it! your brain is screaming. Can’t I just go in and tell the police that I’m innocent. What harm could come of me asserting my innocence?
Even if you are 100% innocent of your Michigan assault and battery charges, you still need to refrain from giving the police a statement without your lawyer present. If you speak to the police without your lawyer present you could:
- Share unnecessary information that could be detrimental. Your statement might provide the police with a motive instead of clearing your name.
- Accidentally make a mistake in your story. This would make it look like you’re lying. Until you try it, you have no idea how difficult it is to tell the exact same detail-filled story twice.
- Give disjointed statements. By having breaks in your story, it would allow the prosecution to potentially take your words out of context, rearrange them, and make you look guilty.
Even if you are completely and totally innocent of your assault and battery charges, you still need to hire an experienced lawyer. With an assault and battery lawyer on your side, you can be sure you won’t accidentally say something that could come back to haunt you in the future.
How do you defend a Michigan assault and battery charge?
Remember, in order for you to be convicted of your assault and battery charge, the prosecution has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you are guilty of your charges. Your options for your defense will depend upon your case’s unique circumstances, of course. However, some popular defenses against Michigan assault and battery charges are that you were:
- acting in self-defense,
- defending someone else,
- not intending to commit a crime,
- unable to carry out the threat,
- provoked, or
- falsely accused.
Some other common defenses are:
- The threat of harm wasn’t imminent.
- The victim’s fear wasn’t reasonable.
- Your threats were vague and there wasn’t an overt act.
- Your threats were conditional.
- There is a dispute about whether your actions were threatening or not.
If you think one or more of these defenses applies to your situation, make sure to let your lawyer know. Although using one of these solid defenses won’t guarantee your acquittal, it makes it a lot more likely.
Remember, the prosecution has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you’re guilty. With a strong defense and an experienced attorney, it makes it much more likely that the judge and jury will have doubts about your guilt. This makes it less likely that you’ll be convicted.
Can I claim self-defense in my assault and battery case in Michigan?
Yes, you might be able to successfully claim self-defense in your assault and battery case. It all depends on the facts. Under Michigan’s “stand your ground” law, there’s no longer a need to retreat first before acting. In other words, there’s no longer a need for you to flee to try to get away from an aggressor. Instead, you can stay right where you are and fight back.
The key to a successful self-defense claim is that you have to have an appropriate response to the other person’s threat. Let’s take a look at a couple of examples.
Example 1: You and an acquaintance get into a verbal fight. Things start to heat up, and you can see your acquaintance is about to take a swing at you. Without even thinking, you swing, too.
Your punch lands first, so you’re technically the one who started the fight. However, because you only acted in response to your acquaintance’s action, you might be able to claim (and successfully prove) self-defense. Even if the person you hit was quite a bit smaller than you, you saw a punch coming so you threw a punch. It was an equal response to an equal threat.
Example 2: You and an acquaintance get into a verbal fight. Things start to heat up, and you can see your acquaintance is about to take a swing at you. Without even thinking, you reach into your pocket, pull out your knife, and stab the person.
In this case, you wouldn’t be able to claim self-defense. The person was about to hit you, and you escalated the situation by pulling a knife. By pulling a knife, you took the situation to the next level. Similarly, if you pulled out a gun in this situation, you also wouldn’t be able to claim self-defense. But what if the other person had already started hitting you?
Example 3: You and an acquaintance get into a verbal fight. Things start to heat up, and the next thing you know, you’re being beaten over and over again. You reach back, pull out your concealed gun, and shoot.
Can you claim self-defense? You might be able to. Even though you escalated the situation by using a gun, if you were being beaten to the extent that you were afraid for your life, the use of a gun might have been justified. It all depends on your unique situation.
Honestly, your best bet is to speak with our experienced assault and battery attorneys at Weise Law. You can give us a call at (616) 931-7030 or go here to contact us. Either way, we’ll be glad to talk to you about your circumstances and let you know what your best options are.
If the victim of my assault doesn’t want to press charges, will I still be prosecuted in Michigan?
Unfortunately, it’s not up to the victim to decide whether you’ll face charges or not. It’s up to the prosecutor. Of course, the prosecutor will listen to what the victim has to say, but ultimately it’s the prosecutor who makes the final decision. And, it’s common for the prosecutor to act against the victim’s wishes and press charges—especially in domestic violence cases.
In domestic violence cases, a victim might be calling the police one day and minimizing the situation with the prosecutor the next day. The prosecutors are then faced with this tough situation: Follow your wishes (even though that means you could be assaulted again) or press charges and keep you safe from harm. Often, they make the tough choice to do their best to keep you safe.
However, an uncooperative victim can make it difficult to prosecute the case. If the victim doesn’t want to press charges in the first place, he or she might refuse to come to court and testify. Or, if the victim does testify in court, he or she might tell a different story from what he or she first told the police. Whatever the victim says in court will stand as his or her official statement, and the initial story will be disregarded as hearsay.
So ultimately, even if your victim doesn’t want to press charges against you, the prosecutor might disagree and charge you. However, if your victim is adamant that you shouldn’t be charged, he or she could do things that might thwart the prosecutor’s case. If a witness fails to appear in court or if he or she tells a different story in court, these could make the case extremely difficult to prove and charges might be dropped.
If I’ve been charged with assault and battery, do I need an attorney?
If you have been charged with assault and battery in Michigan, you absolutely need an attorney. Even if you are completely innocent, you still need help from someone who has extensive experience facing assault and battery charges.
Lots of times, people think that if they’re just honest with the police—if they speak to the officer person to person—that they’ll both come to an understanding and the charges will be dropped. Unfortunately, that’s not the case because it’s the prosecutor (not the police officer) who decides whether or not to charge you. To make matters worse, the comments you make to the police officer can be used against you in court.
The last thing you want is to hurt your chances of clearing your name. After all, you don’t want some silly mistake you made when your lawyer wasn’t present dictating whether you will or will not be convicted of committing a violent crime.
Instead of speaking with the police, what you need to do is find someone who knows the Michigan assault and battery laws inside and out. You need a total pro who’s able to hear your story and notice if the police did anything unethical to get you to say or do anything that might incriminate you. You need someone who will fight to clear your name no matter whether you’ve just been charged or are facing an appeal.
At Weise Law, we’re the Michigan assault and battery attorneys you’re looking for! We’re on your side, and we’re here to make sure you don’t get tricked by the police into saying or doing something that could potentially hurt your case. We’re ready to fight to clear your name so you don’t have a blemish on your criminal record. Give us a call today at (616) 931-7030 or you can contact us online.
