You’ve likely heard the terms assault and battery before. They are generally associated with crime stories in which a person causes a non-fatal injury to another. Both terms have negative connotations and they almost seem interchangeable. In many states, there is a difference, but Utah approaches the law differently.
If you were to scour the Utah code looking for the law against battery, you’d only be able to find one crime that uses that word, and that is sexual battery.
According to Utah law, this is when you inappropriately touch someone else’s genitals, buttocks, or breasts (if the victim is female). This only applies to cases that are not rape, sexual abuse, or sodomy. It’s a class A misdemeanor meaning up to 364 days in jail and up to $2,500 in fines.
Ironically, this is what many people call sexual assault, which isn’t actually a legal term under Utah law.
There are two basic types of assault in Utah — assault and aggravated assault.
Assault is when you either cause bodily injury with unlawful force or you attempt to do so. It’s a class B misdemeanor if the injury wasn’t substantial. This means you can get up to six months in jail and up to $1,000 in fines.
However, if the injury is substantial or if you knew the other person was pregnant, that is a class A misdemeanor.
Aggravated assault is when you committed regular assault, but you also either had a dangerous weapon, impeded the blood flow or breathing of the victim, or used any other kind of means that could kill or seriously injure them.
This is either a third degree felony — up to five years in prison and $5,000 in fines — or second-degree felony — up to 15 years in prison and $10,000 in fines — depending on how badly hurt the victim is.
To understand the legal differences between assault and battery, you have to look at the laws of other states. We won’t look at all 50. Instead, we’ll just look at Idaho and California.
Before we do so, it’s important to note that we at Brown, Bradshaw & Moffat don’t practice the law at either of those states. We are giving examples using information that’s publicly available for educational purposes only. Our law firm is exclusive to Utah.
Idaho defines assault as, “An unlawful attempt, coupled with apparent ability, to commit a violent injury.” It further defines it as a threat that you are capable of carrying out and which causes the victim to be afraid.
Battery is defined as “Willful and unlawful use of force or violence upon the person of another.” It can also be touching someone without their consent.
The California penal code has almost word-for-word the same definitions. Assault is “an unlawful attempt, coupled with a present ability, to commit a violent injury on the person of another,” and battery is “any willful and unlawful use of force or violence.”
In other words, assault is a threat of violence, and battery is physically carrying it out in those states.
In Utah, “assault” essentially means the same thing that “battery” means in Idaho and California, but the Beehive State does have another law that essentially means what California and Idaho call assault — threat of violence.
Under Utah law, this is when you threaten to kill or hurt someone and you intend to scare them.
Theoretically, Utah’s threat of violence is still a little bit different from California/Idaho’s definition of “assault.” In Utah, you can be convicted of threat of violence by simply making the threat and intends to scare the other person. The person doesn’t have to actually be afraid.
In Idaho and California, you have to have “apparent” or “present” ability to carry out the threat.
Let’s say you are a 240 pound man. Most of that weight is in muscle. You have very little body fat. You go up to a skinny young man who weighs 90 pounds, and you tell him you’re going to kill him with your bare hands.
Under the law of all three states, that would be enough for you to be convicted for threat of violence or assault because you made the threat, and you are capable of carrying it out.
Now, let’s say the roles are reversed. You’re a 90-pound man, and you tell a 240 pound body builder that you are going to kill him with your bare hands. You do this in a dark alley, intending to scare him, but of course, he’s not actually scared of you.
In this scenario, you might get away with it in Idaho and California because you don’t have any capability to carry out the threat. However, in the Beehive State, you can still get in trouble. Capability doesn’t actually matter under Utah law.
Idaho’s definition of aggravated assault and aggravated battery are more straightforward than what’s in the California Penal Code. For the sake of simplicity, that is what we’ll discuss here.
In Idaho, aggravated assault is when you threaten someone with a deadly weapon, you have the means to create “great bodily harm,” or you are threatening them with a harmful chemical.
The punishment is up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000. This is another key difference from Utah law. In Utah, it doesn’t matter whether or not you are threatening with a deadly weapon. You are still looking at possible jail time, rather than prison time. That is unless you making a terrorism or school threat.
In Idaho, aggravated battery is when you cause “great bodily harm,” you use a deadly weapon, or you use a harmful chemical or poison. It can also be when you cause a lot of damage to a developing fetus in a pregnant woman.
In Idaho, this crime is up to 15 years in prison. This is a little more severe than some aggravated assault situations in Utah in which you might see prison time of up to five years.
If you’re accused of assault, don’t talk to the police about the crime until you have discussed the case with a licensed attorney. The job of the police is to gather evidence that can be used against you in a court of law. Even statements that you think are benign can cause you a world of hurt later on.
In the U.S., you are innocent until proven guilty. However, even if you want to make a plea deal, it’s a good idea to discuss it with your own attorney first so that you can get the best outcome possible.
For assault, you’ll want someone who specializes in violent crimes. You’ll find that in Kristin Wilson, Michael Holje, Mark R. Moffat, Staci Visser, and Anne Marie Talaferro. All of them work at Brown, Bradshaw & Moffat, and all of them would be happy to help you.
Call (801) 532-5297 for a free consultation.
Our attorneys are experienced at arguing cases of self-defense and applying Utah’s unique law allowing defendants to raise this defense before trial. (link to justification hearing statute https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title76/Chapter2/76-2-S309.html). Our attorneys were even the first appellate attorneys in Utah to argue the new justification law before the Utah Supreme Court—and won! (link to State v. Clara https://scholar.google.com/scholar_casecase=5001159116902173986&q=state+v.+clara&hl=en&as_sdt=4,45).
