Assault and Battery 3rd Degree

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Assault and Battery 3rd Degree in South Carolina

Assault and battery third degree relates to harming or threatening to harm another person.  That’s right, you can still be charged even if you never touched another person.

Hi, my name is Dale Savage and I’m a criminal defense attorney here in Charleston, SC. Today we’re talking about assault and battery third degree charges.

Assault and battery charges relate to harming or threatening to harm another person.

What’s the Law

To establish assault & battery 3rd degree the state must show that you:

  • Unlawfully injured another person; or
  • Attempted to injure another person with the present ability to do so
  • 0-30 days up to $500 fine

A battery is the unlawful contact to another causing injury.

Assault is threatening someone with such harm putting them in reasonable fear but there is no actual contact.

Defenses to Assault and Battery

There are two common defenses to these cases 1) self-defense or 2) mutual combat.

Self-Defense

Self-defense means that you are not at fault in bringing on the need to defend yourself and your response was reasonable given the type of harm you were facing.  This means that if someone threatened to punch you can’t respond with lethal force.

Mutual Combat

Mutual combat means that both parties agreed to engage in the fight.  This is often determined by the actions of both parties and if there was any pre-existing dispute between the two of you.

Establishing these types of defenses means talking to witnesses, reviewing any video available, if any, investigating the facts of your case.  Even if you don’t have a defense to the charge it is possible to get your case resolved without a conviction but a lot will depend on whether the victim wants to prosecute or is willing to let you enter a diversionary program that will allow you to get the case dismissed.

Charleston Criminal Defense Lawyer

If have been charged with Assault and battery 3rd degree and want to discuss your options, please call me at (843) 530-7813.  I hope this video was helpful and thanks for watching.

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