Aggravated Battery is treated as a physical crime or a violent physical crime.
You need the help of an experienced, trained Aggravated Battery attorney and criminal defense law firm to help you with these charges.
Many people don’t realize that these charges can affect the rest of your life. A conviction with these charges will be a part of your criminal history and will be seen when you try to rent a house, apply for a loan of any type, get a promotion at work, or try to obtain new employment.
An experienced criminal defense attorney can help you control how this charge is treated, both in court and how it will affect your future.
The State of Georgia (by legislature or court) refers to these crimes as Crimes Against the Person or Crimes Against People.
What is Aggravated Battery? (O.C.G.A. § 16-5-24)
Many Claims of Aggravated Battery are serious and no one should minimize anyone’s experience. However, occasions arise where someone, in an argument, will call the police to solve a problem between the two of them, which almost always results in an arrest (even though it was just a misunderstanding between the parties).
The difference between Battery, Simple Battery and Aggravated Battery will depend on the facts of the case.
In all charges, any type of Aggravated Battery charge will involve striking someone, in any manner, and making contact (no matter how small — even a slap can be treated as a battery).
The Georgia legislature defines and evaluates a Aggravated Battery as follows:
Aggravated Battery occurs when someone maliciously strikes another person and causes the loss of a body part or seriously disfigures the person who was struck (malicious means that the person hit the other person on purpose and without provocation or being provoked).
Under this code section Aggravated Battery is a Felony. The general punishment for this charge involves one (1) to twenty (20) years in jail. The additional overall toll, or effect, that it carries involves more than just misdemeanor consequences, however.
There are additional situations that can cause this type of charge to be elevated in nature, which would make the minimum amount of jail time change or increase other serious aspects of the charge:
Those particular situations involve:
- Your charge involves someone who is 65 or older, or against a pregnant female (increases the minimum amount of mandatory jail time to 5 years);
- You are charged in a public transit vehicle [such as MARTA (Metro Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority), Gwinnett Transit Authority (GTA) or Cobb Transit Authority, (CTA)]. These vehicles, or transit vehicles, include buses, vans, rail cars or any other forms of transportation that receive a subsidy from tax revenues or operated under contracts with the counties or municipalities of the state (increases the minimum amount of mandatory jail time to 5 years);
- You are charged with the offense AND you are either a past or present spouse (husband and/or wife), are a parent of the same child, children, stepparent or step child, foster parent or foster children;
- Your charge is against a public safety officer (increases the minimum amount of mandatory jail time to 10 years, there is an exception if the individual is under 17 years of age the minimum jail time shall be 3 years);
- Your charge is against a correction officer (i.e., Aggravated Battery against a probation officer) (increases the minimum amount of mandatory jail time to 5 years).
Can I give a defense to Aggravated Battery charges?
You need the help of an experienced Aggravated Battery attorney to help you with these charges.
As former prosecutors, our criminal defense lawyer team know and understand that the prosecution, or in almost every case – team of prosecutors, are highly skilled and trained to obtain and try to get a conviction on your case.
That means it’s time to hire an attorney who knows how to evaluate both sides of the case. Our team of criminal defense lawyers are former prosecutors and know how to mount a proper defense for your charges.
Being charged with Aggravated Battery does not mean that you have to accept guilt. It means that you need help from an experienced Aggravated Battery lawyer to mount a proper defense.
Our offices in Atlanta & nearby cities in Georgia have a 24-hour response line (404-445-8494) and someone is available to answer your call and help. Call us now for a FREE case evaluation.