Assault and Battery

Dedicated Michigan Criminal Defense Lawyers Aggressively Defending the Rights of Traverse City and Grand Rapids Residents

Assault and battery may be charged as a misdemeanor or felony in Michigan, depending on the facts of the case. Regardless, it is important to secure the aggressive representation of an experienced criminal defense attorney to ensure your arrest has as little impact on your future as possible. If you simply plead guilty, you might ultimately face much greater penalties down the road if you pick up another assault and battery charge in the future. It is better to guard against this risk from the outset.

At the Neumann Law Group, our Traverse City criminal defense attorneys have more than a century of experience aggressively defending the rights of clients facing all types of serious criminal offenses, including violent crimes such as assault and battery, sexual offenses and domestic violence offenses.

What Is Assault and Battery in Michigan?

In Michigan, assault is defined as an attempt to cause physical injuries to someone else or to make an intentional and feasible threat of action that causes someone else to fear impending violence. For example, if you wave a gun in a bar during a brawl, assault may be charged. Battery is an intentional use of force or violence against someone else. For example, if you hit a person with a weapon during a barroom brawl, this is likely to be charged as a battery.

Punishments for a Michigan Assault and Battery Conviction

If you commit assault and battery without a weapon, it is usually charged as a misdemeanor. However, assault is charged as a felony if it is committed with the intent of causing serious bodily harm, the intent of killing, or the intent to commit a different felony, like robbery.

When an assault is committed with the intent to murder, it is a felony that may be punished with life imprisonment. When it is committed in order to cause great bodily harm, such as when the defendant repeatedly kicks the victim in the stomach or strangles them, it may be punished with a maximum of 10 years imprisonment and a fine of $5,000. Similarly, when an assault is committed with the intent of maiming the victim, the offense may be punished with a maximum of 10 years imprisonment and a $5,000 fine.

When an assault is armed and committed with the intent of stealing from the victim, such as if you are charged with burglarizing a home while using a gun, you face the possibility of life imprisonment. When certain people, such as police officers, are victims, other specific penalties may be imposed.

You should not simply plead guilty to assault and battery charges. You might end up with a criminal record that will haunt you far into the future, affecting your ability to secure jobs, get housing, obtain professional licenses, or attend colleges or graduate schools. There are often defenses available.

For example, we may be able to prove that you acted in self-defense. In an assault and battery case involving non-deadly force, it is a defense if your actions were in response to a threat of imminent unlawful force against you, and you had an honest and reasonable belief that you would suffer a bodily injury or sexual assault if you did not defend yourself. There may also be the possibility of a constitutional defense if law enforcement conducted an illegal search or seizure or if detectives took your statement without Mirandizing you.

Retain an Experienced Criminal Defense Attorney in Grand Rapids or Traverse City

If you are facing a charge of assault and battery, or any other violent crime, you should consult the Traverse City criminal defense lawyers at the Neumann Law Group as soon as possible. We are not afraid to go to trial and fight for your rights. We also represent clients in Ann Arbor, Flint, Lansing, Kalamazoo, Detroit, Wyoming, Saginaw, Midland, Muskegon, Holland, Warren, and Petoskey, as well as throughout the Upper Peninsula. To learn more, and to schedule a free consultation today, give our criminal defense lawyers in Traverse City a call at 800-525-6386. You can also connect with us through our online contact form.