Three Quick Defenses to Ordinary Assault

Virginia law doesn’t define assault. So, to determine if a defendant is guilty, courts use the common-law definition of assault. Courts define assault as an attempt or offer, with force and violence, to do some bodily hurt to another. Battery is a willful or unlawful touching. That definition describes ABC (assault by contact) in most states. Typically, ABC is a traffic ticket-level offense. In Virginia, assault and battery are both Class 1 misdemeanors. Hate crime, domestic violence, and other enhancements often apply.

Although courts broadly define assault and battery, a Leesburg criminal defense lawyer still has options in these cases, as outlined below. Pretrial matters are important as well. For example, immediate jail release usually sets the stage for a successful criminal defense. Jail release gives a Leesburg criminal defense lawyer time to fully develop a defense and obtain the best possible result.

Procedural Defense

Illegal interrogations that violate the Fifth Amendment may be the most common procedural defense in assault cases.

Typically, when officers arrive at the scene of a disturbance call, they separately interview the combatants to determine “who started it.” To maintain an air of informality and encourage cooperation, most officers don’t inform suspects of their Fifth Amendment rights.

As a result, any evidence the police obtain, either directly or indirectly, is fruit from a poisonous tree and therefore inadmissible in court.

As a side note, the Fifth Amendment also guarantees the right to physical silence. Suspects can “plead the Fifth” to avoid standing in lineups or posing for pictures. Under current law, suspects must say something like “I plead the Fifth” to avoid waiving their constitutional right to remain silent.

Substantive Defense

For a Leesburg criminal defense lawyer, a lack of credible evidence may be the most effective defense in an assault, battery, or any other criminal case.

The alleged victim is the critical witness in these cases. Without the alleged victim’s testimony, the case normally cannot go forward. Frequently, the alleged victim had been drinking at the time of the alleged assault or battery. Alcohol inhibits memory and recall. Other times, a parallel proceeding in family court, such as a divorce, casts doubt on the alleged victim’s motivation for testifying.

Incidentally, alleged victims cannot “drop” criminal assault or battery charges. If the alleged victim refuses to operate, sometimes prosecutors drop the matter. Other times, they subpoena alleged victims and force them to testify against their will.

The confrontation clause sometimes comes into play as well. This Sixth Amendment provision states that defendants have a right to look their accusers in the eye at trial. Many alleged victims say all sorts of things on social media, but they back down face-to-face.

Affirmative Defense

Self-defense is the most common affirmative defense in assault or battery cases. However, this defense is only available in limited situations.

Basically, self-defense is a proportional response to an immediate threat. Words, no matter how harsh, are not an immediate threat. Additionally, although words hurt deeply, physical violence is not a proportional defense to hateful words.

If a procedural, substantive, and/or affirmative defense may apply, a Leesburg criminal defense lawyer often obtains a very favorable plea bargain agreement, such as deferred disposition probation. Once the defendant completes the period of probation, which is unsupervised in some cases, the judge dismisses the matter.

Reach Out to a Hard-Working Loudoun County Lawyer

There’s a big difference between an arrest and a conviction in criminal law. For a confidential consultation with an experienced criminal defense attorney in Leesburg, contact Simms Showers, LLP, Attorneys at Law. The sooner you reach out to us, the sooner we start working for you.

Source:

casetext.com/case/parish-v-commonwealth