Michigan Assault Charge Defense Attorneys

MICHIGAN ASSAULT CHARGES

There are a number of Michigan misdemeanor assault charges under Michigan’s penal code. The assault crime charged depends upon the circumstances of the crime, the defendant’s prior criminal history and the severity of the injury suffered by the victim.

Assault does not require you to touch another person. An assault occurs when a person attempts to commit a battery or an unlawful act that places another in reasonable fear of receiving an immediate battery. A battery, on the other hand, does require you to touch another person. A battery is a forceful, violent, or offensive touching of a person or something connected with the person.

Whether the charge is a felony or a misdemeanor, it is important to keep in mind that is just a charge: the prosecutor has to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt in order to get a conviction. That can be difficult in cases involving assault as these cases frequently involve two people with little or no corroborating evidence. Moreover, what appeared to the police to be an assault may have in fact been an act of self-defense.

Whatever the facts are surrounding your assault charge, you’ll want the experienced criminal attorneys at Jeffrey Buehner, PLLC defending you.

If you’d like a free consultation with Jeffrey Buehner, call (248) 865-9640 or fill out our Free Consultation form.

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Michigan Assault & Battery Charges

Assault and battery is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 93 days in jail and a fine of up to $500.00.

Michigan Aggravated Assault Charges

Aggravated assault is a more serious form of  misdemeanor assault & battery that is punishable by up to 1 year in jail and a $1,000 fine. The distinction between assault and battery and aggravated assault is that an aggravated assault is an assault or battery in which the defendant inflicts serious or aggravated injury. “Serious or aggravated injury” is defined as a substantial bodily injury that necessitated immediate medical treatment or caused disfigurement, impairment of health, or impairment of any bodily part.

Michigan Domestic Violence

Domestic violence is an assault and/or battery on a spouse or former spouse, a person you have dated, a person with whom you have a child in common, or a resident or former resident of your household.

  • First offense domestic violence is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 93 days in jail and a fine of up to $500.00.
  • Second offense domestic violence is punishable by up to 1 year in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.00.

Domestic violence cases frequently arise from arguments between two people that result in relatively minor physical confrontations such as grabbing, pushing or restraining. Unfortunately, in most jurisdictions if the police are called to a domestic dispute and there is any evidence of a physical confrontation, no matter how minor, someone is getting arrested. These policies can lead to absurd charges where the alleged ‘victim’ never intended to have the defendant arrested.

Michigan Aggravated Domestic Violence

Aggravated domestic violence is a domestic violence charge with the added element that the victim suffered a serious or aggravated injury. Aggravated domestic violence is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 1 year in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.00.

MICHIGAN FELONIOUS ASSAULT ATTORNEY

Michigan Felonious Assault / Assault With A Dangerous Weapon

Felonious assault (also known as “assault with a dangerous weapon”) is an assault with a gun, revolver, pistol, knife, iron bar, club, brass knuckles, or other dangerous weapon. A ‘dangerous weapon’ is also any object that is used in a way that is likely to cause serious physical injury or death. In order to prove assault with a dangerous weapon the prosecutor must prove:

  1. That the defendant either attempted to commit a battery or did an act that would cause a reasonable person to fear or apprehend an immediate battery;
  2. That the defendant intended either to injure the victim or to make the victim reasonably fear an immediate battery;
  3. That at the time, the defendant had the ability to commit a battery, appeared to have the ability, or thought he had the ability; and
  4. That the defendant committed the assault with a dangerous weapon.

Felonious assault is a felony punishable by up to 4 years in prison and a $2,000.00 fine.

Felonious assault is one of the more overcharged crimes, so it is often possible to arrange a charge reduction to a less serious misdemeanor assault charge.

Other Michigan Felony Assault Charges Include:

  • Assault with Intent to Do Great Bodily Harm (a.k.a. ‘Assault GBH’)
  • Assault with Intent to Commit Murder
  • Assault with Intent to Commit a Felony
  • Assault with Intent to Commit Armed Robbery

Was It Self-Defense?

In certain circumstances a person has the right to use force to in self-defense. If you were in a situation where you reasonably believed that you had use physical force to protect yourself from the unlawful use of force by another person, a jury may find that your actions were justifiable self-defense and that you are not guilty.

In determining whether a defendant’s conduct amounted to self-defense, a defendant’s conduct is judged by the circumstances as they appeared to the defendant at the time of their alleged assault. To establish self-defense, the following must be shown:

  1. The defendant must not have been engaged in the commission of the crime.
  2. The defendant must have honestly and reasonably believed that he had to use force to protect himself from the imminent unlawful use of force by another.
  3. A person is only justified in using the degree of force that seems necessary at the time to protect himself from danger. The defendant must have used the kind of force that was appropriate to the attack made and the circumstances as he saw them.
  4. The right to defend himself only lasts as long as it is necessary for the purpose of protection.
  5. The person claiming self-defense must not have acted wrongfully and brought on the assault. (However, if the defendant only used words, that does not prevent him from claiming self-defense if he was attacked).

Michigan criminal defense lawyer Jeffrey Buehner has tried and won many Michigan assault cases. If you’d like a free consultation with Mr. Buehner, call (248) 865-9640 or fill out our Free Consultation form.