What Does It Mean to Assault Someone in Colorado?
To successfully fight against assault charges, you first need to understand what assault is in a legal sense. In the state of Colorado, assault is identified as contact made unlawfully with another that results in injury to them.
What makes assault charges even more complicated is the fact that they can be treated as a misdemeanor or a felony. What charge you face depends on how severe the actions were and who was involved in the alleged crime.
In our state, there are several degrees of assault a person can be charged with. They include:
First Degree Assault
This is the most serious level of assault that can be charged in Colorado. It is defined as one person intentionally causing serious injury to another person by using a deadly weapon.
In this case, serious injury is defined as an injury that carries with it the potential for permanent impairment of a body part, disfigurement, or death. This crime is one that the court views as committed with extreme indifference to human life.
Assault at this level is considered a crime of violence. That means that when you are charged with first-degree assault and convicted, the judge must sentence you at the midpoint of the presumptive sentencing range and cannot exceed twice the maximum.
That can mean a prison sentence of anywhere from 10 to 32 years if convicted, depending on the circumstances of the case.
Second Degree Assault
This degree of assault involves acting intentionally to injure another person. This level of assault is normally charged in cases where a police officer was injured, or they were prevented from carrying out their duties.
Additionally, this level of assault can cover crimes involving giving a substance to another person without first getting their consent, recklessly causing injuries to another person, or intentionally using a deadly weapon in the commission of the crime.
Just as with first-degree assault, this is considered a crime of violence, and you can face anywhere from five to 12 years in prison for second-degree assault in Colorado.
Third Degree Assault
Assault in the third degree occurs when someone negligently, knowingly, or recklessly causes harm to another person with a deadly weapon. It also may qualify as third-degree assault if a person harasses, threatens, or annoys a police officer.
This level of assault differs from the other two in that it is a misdemeanor, but still a crime of extraordinary risk. That translates to a potential jail sentence of anywhere from six to 24 months if found guilty. If the victim was a police officer, at-risk adult, pregnant woman, or first responder, there is a minimum sentence of six months in jail.