Aggravated Assault

The circumstances can vary widely in cases involving aggravated assault in Mississippi. Since no two situations are the same, it’s important to speak with a skilled criminal defense attorney after an arrest. In cases of aggravated assault, depending on the circumstances, you could be facing decades behind bars. These charges aren’t typically reserved for simple altercations or fights that result in a few scrapes or bruises. An aggravated assault charge happens when weapons are present or when non-weapon objects are used as weapons, or when serious bodily injury has occurred. Whether you’re facing a misdemeanor simple assault, felony aggravated assault or variety of other charges, speaking with a lawyer needs to be your top priority.

The Law

Aggravated assault can be found in the Mississippi Code at §97-7-3 and is defined as follows:

A person is guilty of aggravated assault if he (a) attempts to cause serious bodily injury to another, or causes such injury purposely, knowingly or recklessly under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life; or (b) attempts to cause or purposely or knowingly causes bodily injury to another with a deadly weapon or other means likely to produce death or serious bodily harm.

What Is an Assault?

To understand what an aggravated assault charge is, we must first understand what a simple charge of assault is. The elements of simple assault can also be found at §97-3-7 of the Mississippi Code. At its very roots, assault is a crime that involves unlawful, unwanted physical contact that causes harm. It is the use of force against another person that results in harm. Cases of simple assault typically involve relatively minor injuries like bruises or scrapes. Simple assault cases rarely involve the use of weapons. Depending upon the circumstances of the situation, this relatively simple charge can be upgraded to aggravated assault and additional charges can be tacked on. Listed below are just a few examples of simple assault.

Examples of Simple Assault 

• Slapping somebody 
• Minor fisticuffs 
• Pulling someone’s hair 
• Grabbing somebody 
• Shoving another person 

What Makes Assault Aggravated? 

This is the million-dollar question. This is the question that can upgrade your sentence from six months to 20 years. What makes a particular case of assault aggravated? The answer really depends on the situation. Adding a weapon to the mix is a sure way to get an upgraded charge of aggravated assault. Certainly, using a gun is an obvious way to get slapped with aggravated assault, but what about fights that leave victims unconscious? Even when weapons or traditional weapons aren’t involved, a variety of situations can still involve aggravated assault charges. Your own fists can be considered deadly weapons in some situations.

Examples of Aggravated Assault 

• Shooting somebody 
• Stabbing somebody 
• Beating another person very badly, even if a weapon isn’t present 
• Using any kind of ordinary object to beat somebody with 
• Using your car as a weapon 
• Trying to choke somebody with a rope 
• Using a stick or bat to hit somebody with 

“Assault and Battery”