Defense Against Assault and/or Battery Charges
Charges of assault and/or battery:
While you can have both assault charges and battery charges filed against you, South Carolina also has four classifications of assault and battery. You can be charged with assault and battery if…
• You injure someone
• You attempt to injure someone
• You threaten to injure someone
Some charges you may be facing include:
Assault and Battery of a High and Aggravated Nature (ABHAN)
This is the most serious type of assault and battery charge. ABHAN charges are brought when the victim suffers great bodily harm or injuries likely to cause permanent disfigurement or death.
The penalty for this crime is up to 20 years in prison. With the maximum possible sentence being 20 years, SC law provides
that a person convicted of this offense must serve 85% of the sentence before being eligible to seek parole.
Assault & Battery — 1st Degree
First degree assault and battery is a felony charge. A crime falls into this category if it meets certain conditions:
- Results in injury to the victim and involves lewd, non-consensual touching of genitals, or happened while committing a theft, robbery, burglary or kidnapping.
- Includes assault without battery or physical contact that would likely have caused great bodily harm or death, or happened while committing a theft, robbery, burglary or kidnapping.
The penalty for this crime is up to 10 years in prison.
Assault & Battery — 2nd Degree
Second degree assault and battery results when the victim suffers moderate bodily injury that requires medical treatment or if they could have suffered that type of injury. This offense also includes non-consensual touching of the genitals.
This is a misdemeanor, punishable in General Sessions Court. The penalty is up to three years in prison and/or a fine of $2500.
Assault & Battery — 3rd Degree
Previously known as common law simple assault or simple assault and battery, third degree assault and battery is threats, touching or both where the accused injures or attempts to injure another person and the victim suffers less than moderate bodily injury.
Assault and battery third degree is a misdemeanor, punishable by a sentence of up to 30 days in jail and/or a fine of $500.
Arnold Beacham has represented hundreds of people accused of all levels of assault and battery over the last twenty-five years in the Midlands and other areas of South Carolina as well.
Mr. Beacham’s experience as a prosecutor is invaluable to our clients because he knows how the Solicitor’s Office will pursue your case. His knowledge of the system and experience with the law can help you obtain the best possible result when facing criminal charges.