A man from another state recently caught a 19 year old male with his 17 year old daughter and responded in a unique way. He pulled the teen away from his daughter by his hair and used a knife to chop off his dreadlocks. He then punched the boy in the face and threatened to shoot him in the back. The father felt justified in his actions, as he felt the teen had disrespected him. The dad is now facing Aggravated Assault charges and is out on $50,000 bail.
What is Aggravated Assault in Weld County?
There are two Assault charges, which Colorado lawmakers consider serious enough to be aggravated. Both 1st and 2nd Degree Assault qualify as aggravated in Weld, Morgan, and Logan County.
First Degree Assault – C.R.S. 18- 3-202 – is when a person uses a deadly weapon and causes serious bodily injury to another person.
Second Degree Assault – C.R.S. 18-3-203 – is when a person uses a deadly weapon and causes non-serious bodily injury to another person.
So, what is the difference between these two? The degree of injury the victim sustains. 1st Degree Assault deals with serious bodily injury. Serious bodily injury includes:
- a substantial risk of death
- a substantial risk of serious permanent disfigurement
- a substantial risk of loss or impairment of any organ or body part
- breaks
- fractures
- 2nd or 3rd degree burns
2nd Degree Assault covers bodily injury. Bodily injury includes:
- physical pain
- illness
- impairment of physical or mental condition
How Does This Apply to the Case?
A haircut can be considered Aggravated Assault.
For the father above, the pieces just don’t seem to fit together. Did he have a deadly weapon? Technically, yes, a knife is considered a deadly weapon. But did the deadly weapon cause the injury? The District Attorney will probably argue that it did. Because ‘bodily injury’ is nonspecific, all a victim would have to say is they experienced pain. Probably, this boy claimed the father hurt him when he yanked his hair and then used the knife to cut it off. There you have it: under these conditions, a haircut can be considered Aggravated Assault. The punch in the face is typically only a Third Degree Assault, unless the young man was seriously injured with a broken nose or facial bone. In this instance, the government will claim the father’s fists were deadly weapons, and charge 2nd Degree Assault on that basis.
If you or a loved one has been charged with Assault in Greeley, Windsor, or Evans, be smart, exercise your right to remain silent, and contact an experienced criminal defense attorney at the O’Malley Law Office for a free consultation at the O’Malley Law Office at 970-616-6009. Together, we can protect your future.
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