Myrtle Beach Assault and Battery Lawyers
Assault and battery are actually two separate legal charges that are often combined into one because they often occur at the same time in the same incident. When you are charged with battery, you will automatically also be charged with assault, but if you're charged with assault, you might not necessarily be charged with battery. Make any sense? We'll clear it up for you. Although exact definitions change from state to state, a basic definition would look a little something like this: Assault is any threat to do harm to someone. You can verbally assault someone, physically assault someone, or sexually assault someone, but it all involves the threat of harm, even if you never actually do any damage. For instance, if you point a gun at someone, if you wield a bat at them and threaten to hit them, if you indicate that you're going to sexually assault someone, all of these charges are assault because they threaten harm. The charge only becomes battery when you actually physically touch someone. This is why most of these charges are coupled in a group as assault and battery. Both charges are serious, but often being charged with assault carries far less of a criminal penalty, and is sometimes handled in civil court where monetary damages are assessed rather than prison time.
View South Carolina Code of Laws 16-3-600 for assault and battery.