What are the three types of assault? - Boulder Criminal Defense Attorney

[00:00:00]So, in Colorado, there is first, second, or third-degree assault. Third-degree is the lowest level of assault, and first-degree is the highest. With third-degree assault, you're really talking about knowingly or recklessly hitting another person. So, there, think about you're swinging a bat, right?

[00:00:15][music] And you're just not paying attention to somebody else in the area, and you hit them with the bat. That could be third-degree assault. And let's say it didn't cause a lot of injury other than maybe they said, [music] "Ow, I felt pain." That's third-degree assault. Second-degree assault could be um causing serious bodily injury. That could be a uh a fracture, a scar. Let's say you um you know, you think about the movies, and somebody takes a beer bottle, and they start a fight, and they hit another person with that beer bottle. That's second-degree assault because [music] maybe you've caused a injury like a broken bone, or maybe you've caused a scar, but you've also now picked up a beer bottle, which could be used as a deadly weapon. And then, first-degree assault is the most serious. That's usually you did use a deadly weapon like a beer bottle or could be a deadly weapon, and you've caused a serious bodily injury. Like maybe you sliced them open, and now they're going to need stitches. So, that's the most serious of [music] the three types of assault cases.