There are different types of assault and battery charges in Michigan. An assault happens when someone tries to hurt another person but doesn’t actually touch the other person. For example, if you take a swing at someone but don’t hit them, you can be charged with an assault if you intended to strike the other person and the other person reasonably feared they might be injured. In this respect, an assault is essentially a threat of harm.

A battery occurs when you actually contact the victim or an object you used strikes that person. A battery can include any person-to-person touching such as if your swing strikes a victim’s elbow. You could be charged with battery if you use a club and the club strikes the person – or even if you use your car and your car strikes the car another person is in. At the Law Office of Steven K. Mamat, our Detroit criminal defense lawyers fight for defendants charged with assault and battery crimes from the moment of arrest until your case is resolved. We understand what defenses are likely to persuade the prosecutors, the judge, and a jury. We work to have the charges dismissed, to obtain acquittals, and when warranted – to negotiate just plea bargains.

Imprisonment and other penalties include:

• Assault and Battery. This offense, by itself, is a misdemeanor. The penalties include up to 93 days in jail and up to $500 in fines. The penalties for a subsequent conviction can be up to one year in jail and up to $1,000 in fines. The penalties for a third conviction can be up to five years in jail and up to $5,000 in fines.

Domestic assault and battery charges can be filed if the victim is pregnant (and the defendant knows of the pregnancy or is “a spouse or former spouse, an individual with whom he or she has or has had a dating relationship, an individual with whom he or she has had a child in common, or a resident or former resident of his or her household.”

• Felonious assault. This crime is “an assault with a gun, revolver, pistol, knife, iron bar, club, brass knuckles, or other dangerous weapon without intending to commit murder or to inflict great bodily harm less than murder is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than 4 years or a fine of not more than $2,000.00, or both.” There are additional penalties if a felonious assault occurs in a school zone.

Felonious assault and battery also includes attacks on various first responders such as police officers and firefighters – along with emergency medical personnel, human service agency workers, and utility workers – while the workers are acting in an official capacity.

Other types of assault charges include:

• Aggravated assault and battery. For this charge to apply, the victim must be seriously injured. [I see this mentioned on a few law sites – but I don’t see any statutes for this. I’d be inclined to delete it].
• Assault with intent to maim. This offense requires showing that the defendant assaulted another “with intent to maim or disfigure his person by cutting out or maiming the tongue, putting out or destroying an eye, cutting or tearing off an ear, cutting or splitting or mutilating the nose or lips or cutting off or disabling a limb, organ or member.” The sentence can be up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000.
• Assault with intent to commit murder.
• Assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder/assault by strangulation or suffocation.
• Assault with intent to commit felony not otherwise punished.
• Other specific assault offenses