We all know that assault is unlawful or intentional touching by the individual against the victim. We say touching, but it could be anything from sexual, violent and causing harm that could end in severe injuries or death.
If you are committing the assault, you will have both civil and criminal liability for the unlawful and intentional act. This particular criminal case tends to get investigated by the police and government will accuse the perpetrator based on certain criminal laws.
At the same time, the victim will have a civil case with the possibility to sue the attacker under civil law for compensation for medical expenses, injuries, and other losses. Therefore, if you end up in the assault, you should find a professional criminal defense that will help you reduce the sentence.
What Is An Assault?
Many assaults happen in the workplace, within the family, during the commission of a crime or randomly. In most cases, individuals know each other, and the reasons are unique.
Of course, you should have in mind that under criminal law, when someone commits an assault, he will be prosecuted based on the seriousness of injuries, the degree of intended harm and other specific factors.
The prosecutor will prove crimes of assault beyond a reasonable doubt, and when a person gets a conviction, most likely he/she will go to jail, have to pay fines and to pay restitution to victim based on the injury degree.
When it comes to the civil case, if the victim wants to sue the attacker, the victim must prove that assault was intentional as well as providing a specific amount for all damages. Damages include the amount of suffering, pain, emotional distress and injury experienced and other pocket expenses caused by an assault.
If the person who committed the assault gets liable for these damages, he has to pay costs. There are instances where the attacker has an insurance company that will pay the fees for the assault, but most insurance policies nowadays exclude intentional acts such as assaults.
Therefore, it is essential to consult with an experienced attorney so that you can determine whether you can use insurance to pay the damage. At the same time, this particular issue depends upon the laws of the state where the assault happened. If you’ve committed an assault and you won’t be able to pay discharge that will end up in bankruptcy.
In some states, there is a statute of limitations for bringing a civil action and prosecuting an assault, which means that you should talk with a professional attorney to stay one step ahead. Click here to learn differences between civil and criminal assault court rules.
What To Do In Case Of Assault?
- Try To Remove Yourself From The Situation – If attacker is a someone who knew the victim, the idea is that victim should avoid speaking and talking with him until you reach the court or settlement. You should have in mind that most assaults involve emotion and anger which could continue to escalate. Therefore, it could become more dangerous and severe than before. At the same time, if the person who commits the assault can claim that the situation had mutual combat, then you will be able to protect yourself against charges or reduce the sentence and fines.
- Call Police To Make A Report – It is essential to cooperate with police as soon as possible. You should help them along their investigation and with the prosecutor during the case. It is crucial to use collected evidence as quickly as possible after the assault especially if you have witnesses that could help you protect yourself. Therefore, you should call them and make identification before the memories fade. At the same time, you should find an experienced attorney that will see the necessary evidence promptly so that you can protect yourself against both criminal and civil courts.
- Get Appropriate Medical Attention – In most cases, assaults involve both emotional and physical injuries. Therefore, you have to be satisfied and find a way to consider both psychological treatment and medical treatment. Have in mind that many times the victim’s psychological injuries will last longer than physical injuries so you should find a way to cope with this particular problem.
- Take Videos and Photos Of Injuries – Having videos and photos is the best way to create substantial evidence that will testify and prove the severity of assault and bruises before they resolve. Therefore, you should use medical records, but the better way to increase the possibility to get significant damage fee, you will get by presenting videos and images. We recommend you to continue to take videos and photos as the injury resolves and have them dated because that way you will have a stronger case against an attacker. At the same time, have a newspaper or something else that will show the exact date when you took photos for additional convenience.
- Find Professional Attorney – First thing that you should have in mind is that state prosecutor will take your case against criminal charges. However, you should find experienced local injury attorney to handle the victim of an assault and to get valuable advice that will help you obtain compensation for the damage you received. Therefore, it is crucial to find a professional civil injury attorney as soon as possible after the assault happened because that way attorney could start collecting evidence for making a strong and solid civil case.
Enter this website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assault to get more information on different types of assault.
What To Avoid In Case Of Assault?
- Do Not Continue Contact With Attacker – It doesn’t matter if the attacker is a co-worker, family member or random guy, because you should stay away from him/her, You should also consider getting a legal order of protection that will prohibit attacker to come close to the victim. Therefore, you should find an experienced attorney that will provide you with this exclusive chance to get away.
- Do Not Talk About Lawsuit And Civil Claim – If you talk with the person who committed assault or someone who knows him/her, have in mind that you should avoid talking about the future legal actions you wish to take. The first thing that you should do is to consult with an attorney to see what should you do based on current state.
