Assault and battery charges in SC are criminal charges that can range from a simple misdemeanor for hitting or pushing a person to a felony conviction that carries up to 20 years in prison for causing serious injury to someone.
In this article, we will discuss:
- The elements of assault and battery in SC,
- The different types of assault and battery charges, and
- The potential penalties for the different degrees of assault and battery.
Assault and Battery in SC
Assault and battery charges in SC are divided into three different degrees – 1st, 2nd, and 3rd degree – and a separate charge for ABHAN, or assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature.
First, what does assault and battery mean?
What is Assault and Battery?
SC law used to have two separate offenses, one for assault and another for battery, but now they have been combined into the single offense of assault and battery. To better understand assault and battery charges, let’s look at each of these separately.
Assault is when a person causes someone to fear harm to themselves. It is the threat of a battery. For example, if I draw back my fist and say, “I’m going to punch you,” and I have the present ability to follow through and punch you, that is assault.
Battery is actually causing harm to someone – punching, hitting, shoving, or otherwise making physical contact with the person. If I threaten to punch you, and then I follow through and hit you in the jaw, I’ve just committed 1) assault and 2) battery.
Both assault and battery are crimes that are covered by SC’s assault and battery laws, as one single charge.
Important Definitions
SC Code Section 16-3-600 provides the definitions and penalties for each degree of assault and battery, and it also includes some important definitions that help to determine which degree of assault and battery to charge a person with.
For example:
Great bodily injury means an injury that “causes a substantial risk of death or which causes serious, permanent disfigurement or protracted loss or impairment of the function of a bodily member or organ.”
Moderate bodily injury means an injury that “involves prolonged loss of consciousness, or that causes temporary or moderate disfigurement or temporary loss of the function of a bodily member or organ, or injury that requires medical treatment when the treatment requires the use of regional or general anesthesia or injury that results in a fracture or dislocation.”
Moderate bodily injury does not mean “scratches, cuts, abrasions, bruises, burns, splinters, or any other minor injuries that do not ordinarily require extensive medical care.”
Private parts means “the genital area or buttocks of a male or female or the breasts of a female.”
Let’s look at how these terms affect the degree of assault and battery that a person is charged with.
Assault and Battery Charges in SC
There are four types of assault and battery charges in SC – 1st degree, 2nd degree, 3rd degree, and ABHAN, or assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature.
3rd Degree Assault and Battery
Assault and battery in the third degree is the simplest form of the offense, and makes it a crime to:
- Unlawfully injure another person (battery), or
- Offer or attempt to injure another person with the present ability to do so (assault).
3rd degree assault and battery charges are a misdemeanor that carry up to 30 days in prison and are ordinarily heard in the magistrate or municipal courts.
2nd Degree Assault and Battery
Assault and battery in the second degree is where someone 1) unlawfully injures another person, or 2) offers or attempts to injure another person and either:
- Causes moderate bodily injury (see definition above) or could have caused moderate bodily injury; or
- It involved the non-consensual touching of the private parts (see definition above) of a person, either above or below the clothing – note that assault and battery first degree requires a “lewd and lascivious intent,” but this is not an element of assault and battery second degree.
2nd degree assault and battery is a misdemeanor that carries up to three years in prison and is heard in the Court of General Sessions.
1st Degree Assault and Battery
Assault and battery in the first degree can cover situations where the act injures another person (battery) or offers or attempts to injure another person (assault).
If the act resulted in an injury, it must have also:
- Involved “nonconsensual touching of the private parts of a person, either under or above clothing, with lewd and lascivious intent,” or
- Happened “during the commission of a robbery, burglary, kidnapping, or theft.”
If the act involved threatening to injure someone, it must have also:
- Been “accomplished by means likely to produce death or great bodily injury,” or
- Happened “during the commission of a robbery, burglary, kidnapping, or theft.”
1st degree assault and battery is a felony offense that carries up to ten years in prison and is heard in the Court of General Sessions.
Assault and Battery of a High and Aggravated Nature (ABHAN)
ABHAN, or assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, is the most serious type of assault and battery offense in SC.
ABHAN requires a battery – an assault is not enough. It covers situations where someone unlawfully injures another person and:
- It causes great bodily injury (see definitions above), or
- If it did not cause great bodily injury, it was done in a way that was “likely to produce death or great bodily injury.”
ABHAN is a felony that carries up to ten years in prison and is heard in the Court of General Sessions.
Examples of Assault and Battery
Assault and battery charges cover a wide range of conduct that can include situations like:
- Raising your fist and saying, “I will punch you” (3rd degree A/B),
- Punching someone where it causes only minor injuries (3rd degree A/B),
- Touching another person’s breast without consent (2nd degree A/B),
- Breaking someone’s arm in a fight (2nd degree A/B),
- Pointing a gun at someone’s face and saying, “I will shoot you” (1st degree A/B),
- Knocking someone to the ground as you run from the scene of a robbery (1st degree A/B), or
- Throwing acid in someone’s face (ABHAN).
Questions About Assault and Battery in SC?
If you are charged with assault and battery in SC, whether it is a simple assault (Assault and Battery, 3rd degree) in the magistrate court or ABHAN charges in General Sessions Court, get an experienced criminal defense lawyer on your case immediately – before you talk to law enforcement or prosecutors.
Your attorney can help you to prepare your defense, get your charges dismissed, mitigate the consequences of a conviction, or try your case to a jury when appropriate.
Give us a call at (843) 501-0602 or contact us through our website to set up a free initial consultation and find out how we can help.
