Assault
If you have been arrested for assault charges in Irvine, Newport Beach, Santa Ana, Fullerton, Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa or Westminster or anywhere in Orange County, you’ve come to the right place. The Orange County Criminal Defense Attorneys at Law Offices of Michael L. Guisti will walk you through the legal process and work to get your assault charge reduced or even dismissed.
Understand that in California for a person to be arrested for assault no actually physical contact had to take place, only the intent of assault, which means many people are falsely arrested for assault. Sometimes in domestic situations the other person may embellish their side or the story, or outright lie, to the investigating police officer and subsequently the other person is arrested of assault.
Understanding the Charge of Assault
Assault is defined under Penal Code (PC) 240 as, “an unlawful attempt, coupled with a present ability, to commit a violent injury on the person of another."
This is sometimes known as “simple assault.”
As one Newport Beach criminal defense lawyer at the Law Offices of Michael L. Guisti explains, for Orange County prosecutors to prove your guilt to the jury they must prove three things, under Judicial Council of California Criminal Jury Instruction 915, that you “willfully” acted in a way that would likely result in the use of force to another; you were aware that your “act” would likely result in that use of force, and that when you “willfully” acted you had the ability to follow through with the act of force.
Understanding the Terms of Assault
According to one Irvine assault and battery defense attorney at the Law Offices of Michael Guisti the Orange County District Attorney’s office will look at certain actions that lead up to the alleged assault, and they’re going to see if you “willfully,” committed the act, how the use of the allege force, or “application of force,” was carried out, and if you were “aware” that your actions would result in harm.
“Willfully” basically means intentional.
The use of force, or “application of force,” means any touch, no matter how harmful or however slight, done in a harmful, angry, or even offensive matter, regardless if there were any injuries.
As our Irvine criminal defense lawyer explains, even throwing water at somebody could be enough to invite assault charges.
Remember, as our Irvine criminal attorney, explains you don’t have to make physical contact to be arrested and charged with assault, just as long as there was intent.
Being “aware” of the assault, under People v. Williams, requires actual knowledge that your act will likely result in harm to another person.
So basically if you, or another person, didn’t expect your actions to harm another you shouldn’t be charged with assault.
The Difference Between Assault and Battery
As one Fullerton assault defense lawyer at the Law Offices of Michael Guisti explains, many people think assault and battery are the same, but they’re not as battery is its own separate charge under PC 242.
The main different is simply this, an assault charge doesn’t require any actually physical contact, but battery does require there to be actual physical contact.
Defending The Charge of Assault
As the Newport criminal attorney explains, just because you’re arrested for assault doesn’t mean you’re automatically guilty of assault, much less going to be formally charged by the Orange County District Attorney for assault.
The Ability
To be convicted under PC 240 Assault you must have had the ability to carry out the assault, and if you didn’t have the ability to carry out the assault you cannot be convicted.
What this means, according to one Westminster criminal attorney at the Law Offices of Michael Guisti, is maybe in a heated argument you say you’re going to beat that person with a bat. Well, if you don’t have a bat you never had the ability to carry out the assault, thus you cannot be charged with assault.
The Intent
At the same time if you never had the ability you never had intent. Even though you may have threatened somebody to beat that person with a bat, you never had the ability or intent.
Self-Defense
It could also be possible this was really a case of self-defense. As our Huntington Beach criminal attorney explains, if you walked into a room witnessing your girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend beating her up and you threaten to and do punch him, depending how police view the story you could be arrested for assault. Judicial Council Of California Criminal Jury Instruction 3470 allows for “reasonable” fighting back and defense.
Falsely Accused
As another Irvine criminal defense lawyer explains, they’re many cases where people are falsely accused, and there could be a good chance this has happened to you. Many people face arrest for assault charges simply by another person, like an ex or friend, who are angry and they make up a story to get revenge.
Bottom line, according to the Irvine criminal defense lawyer, if you’re falsely accused you cannot be convicted of assault.
If Convicted
You should know the PC 240 Assault is a misdemeanor, but if convicted you could still face some serious charges.
If convicted you could face one or more of these punishments, up to six months in Orange County jail; informal probation, community service, successful completion of a batterer program and/or anger management, and a possible fine of up to $10,000.
Get Help Now!
Maybe you’ve been looking around online seeing if there is a way you can just go talk to the judge yourself, explain how you never intended to assault another person. In your mind and with friends this may sound good, but in reality this creates more problems than it solves for you as when you’re speaking to the judge you may accidentally further incriminate yourself.
You need somebody by your side that understands the complexities of the law, so please call the Orange County Law Offices of Michael L. Guisti right away. Not only will our legal experts go over and explain the complexities of this charge, but by calling right away before the Orange County District Attorney formally files charges we can not only work with the DA to reduce charges, but investigate police action leading to your arrest, which could result in your case being dismissed.
Call the Law Offices of Michael L. Guisti right away at 714-530-9690.
Whether you or your loved one has been arrested or charged with the misdemeanor assault, felony assault, aggravated assault, assault and batter, assault with deadly weapon, assault on a police officer or spousal assault, the Orange County Criminal Defense Attorneys at the Law Offices of Michael L. Guisti can help you to deal with these type of charges because our legal assault and battery experts know the complexities and loopholes of the law and Orange County court system.
We'll handle your case in the best possible ways to reduce your criminal charges or even sometimes to dismiss your case. We will guide you through the legal process, represent you in and out of court, give you all best possible solutions for your case and will do everything possible to make this complicated time much easier for you.
