Oklahoma Assault & Battery Lawyer
While most people have heard the term “assault and battery,” few understand its true legal meaning. Assault and battery are actually two separate acts, though they often occur together.
Defining Assault and Battery
If you are facing charges, it's important to know the core aspects of assault and battery in Oklahoma:
- Assault is the attempt to intentionally cause harm to another person, often without making physical contact.
- Battery is the act of making physical contact or using force against another individual.
- Assault can occur independently when someone takes a swing or threatens harm without actually causing contact.
- Often charged together when an attempt (assault) is immediately followed by physical force (battery).
Because a person may attempt to harm someone without actually making physical contact, he or she may be charged with assault only. However, in most cases where physical contact was made, assault and battery will both be charged because the attempt (assault) generally precedes the act (battery).
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Penalties for Assault and Battery in Oklahoma
Oklahoma law distinguishes several different types of assault and battery, depending on the circumstances of the case. For instance, you may be charged with domestic assault or domestic abuse if you had a relationship with or shared a household with the victim. In other cases, assault and battery may be charged as a felony.
The two basic assault and battery charges are simple assault and misdemeanor assault and battery.
- Simple assault (making a threat or attempting to harm someone) can result in a fine of up to $500 and up to 30 days in jail.
- Misdemeanor assault and battery (attempting to harm and actually making physical contact) may be punished by a fine of up to $1,000 and up to 90 days in jail.
If you are facing allegations of assault or battery, you may be worried about the long-term impact on your criminal record, employment, and reputation in your Oklahoma community. Beyond fines and jail time, a conviction can result in mandatory counseling, community service, and difficulties passing background checks for future jobs or housing. Court proceedings often take place in district courts such as Oklahoma County District Court or Cleveland County Court, where procedures can seem daunting without professional guidance. Knowing the potential range of consequences can help you prepare for each stage of the legal process.
Some assault and battery cases, such as those involving certain public officials or carried out in designated locations like schools, carry enhanced penalties under Oklahoma law. In these situations, the judge may impose higher fines or longer jail sentences if aggravating factors are proven. An assault attorney Oklahoma defendants turn to can review the specifics of your charges and determine whether any sentencing enhancements or special circumstances apply, giving you a clearer understanding of how state statutes might affect your case outcome.
Possible Defenses Against Assault and Battery Charges in Oklahoma
Facing an assault or battery charge can be overwhelming, but there are potential legal defenses that may be available depending on the details of your case. Understanding these defense strategies can help you feel prepared and more confident as you navigate the Oklahoma legal system. The options available will largely depend on the evidence, witness statements, and the specific facts alleged by law enforcement and prosecutors.
Some common defenses in assault and battery cases include arguing self-defense, defending another person, or disputing the intent required for a conviction. In situations where the accused believed they were in imminent danger, Oklahoma law may permit the use of reasonable force to defend oneself or a third party. Additionally, lack of intent or consent given by the other party can play a role in the outcome of a case. It is important to remember that the burden is on prosecutors to prove each element of the charge beyond a reasonable doubt.
Examples of situations where a defense may apply include:
- Self-defense or defense of others when immediate harm is threatened
- Mistaken identity or false accusations if the wrong individual was charged
- Lack of evidence if there are no eyewitnesses or physical proof of injury
- Consent in cases involving mutual fighting or agreed-upon activities
A knowledgeable assault lawyer Oklahoma clients choose can thoroughly assess the facts of your case and evaluate the best potential defense. Your legal team can collect evidence, review police reports, and even work with local investigators who understand county jail booking processes and typical court procedures in Oklahoma. With the right defense approach tailored to local laws and the realities of the jurisdiction where your charges are filed, you stand a better chance of achieving a favorable result in court.
What To Expect After an Assault Arrest in Oklahoma
Being arrested for assault or assault and battery in Oklahoma can be confusing and frightening, especially if you have never been through the criminal system before. Most cases begin with an arrest by city police or county deputies, followed by booking into a local jail such as the Oklahoma County jail or the Cleveland County jail. You will typically see a judge for an initial appearance or arraignment, either in person or by video, where the court advises you of the charges and sets bond. Understanding this early timeline helps you and your family know what steps come next and when decisions about your case will be made.
After arraignment, your case will usually be assigned to a district court judge in the county where the incident allegedly occurred. There may be several court dates for status conferences, motion hearings, and plea discussions before any trial is scheduled. During this phase, we gather discovery from the prosecutor, review police reports, and identify any legal issues that should be raised through written motions. In misdemeanor cases, an assault lawyer Oklahoma residents trust can often appear on your behalf for certain court settings, which may reduce the number of times you need to miss work or arrange childcare to attend hearings.
Throughout the process, there are key decision points such as whether to accept a plea offer, request a deferred sentence, or set the case for trial before a judge or jury. Each option has different consequences for your record, potential jail time, and any probation conditions the court may impose. We take time to walk clients through these choices in plain language so they understand how Oklahoma law treats assault convictions and what outcomes may be realistic in courts like Oklahoma County District Court or Cleveland County Court. By staying informed about each stage, you can play an active role in shaping the direction of your case rather than feeling like the process is happening to you.
How Our Firm Handles Oklahoma Assault and Battery Cases
Every assault case is different, so we begin by listening carefully to your account of what happened and what you hope to accomplish. We then compare your description with the police report, witness statements, and any available video to see where there are gaps or contradictions. In many Oklahoma cases, alcohol use, misunderstandings, or long-standing relationship conflicts play a role in how an argument escalated, and those nuances do not always make it into the initial charging documents. By taking time to understand the full story, we can better explain your situation to prosecutors and judges in courts across the Oklahoma City metro area.
Once we have a clear picture of the allegations, we map out a defense plan that fits the level of the charge and your goals for work, family, and your future record. That plan may involve negotiating for reduced charges, pursuing diversion programs where available, filing motions to challenge the evidence, or preparing the case for trial if negotiations do not produce a fair result. Because our practice already centers on defending serious criminal allegations, we are familiar with local court customs, filing deadlines, and how different judges in Oklahoma County District Court or neighboring counties tend to handle assault and battery matters. This local perspective helps us give you realistic advice about likely timelines and next steps.
Communication is a core part of how we work on assault files. We keep clients updated about upcoming court dates, new plea offers, and developments in the evidence so there are no surprises. When you have questions about how an assault conviction could affect your job, housing, or professional licensing, we respond promptly and walk you through your options. Our goal is to reduce some of the stress that comes with criminal charges by making sure you always know what is happening in your case and why certain strategic choices are being made on your behalf.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will I Have To Go To Jail For an Assault Charge in Oklahoma?
Whether someone serves jail time for an assault charge in Oklahoma depends on the level of the offense, prior record, and the facts of the case. For first-time misdemeanors in courts such as Oklahoma County District Court, judges sometimes consider alternatives like probation, deferred sentences, or suspended sentences instead of straight jail. The exact outcome will depend on negotiations with the prosecutor, any plea agreement, and how the judge views the incident and your background.
Can an Assault Charge Be Removed From My Record?
In some situations, it may be possible to seek an expungement of an Oklahoma assault case after enough time has passed and specific legal requirements are met. The rules are different depending on whether the case was dismissed, resulted in a deferred sentence, or ended in a conviction. Because expungement laws can be complex and change over time, many people choose to speak with a lawyer after their case is finished to review when and how they might clear or seal part of their record.
What Should I Do Immediately After Being Accused of Assault?
After an accusation or arrest, it is generally wise to avoid discussing the details of the incident with anyone other than your attorney. Anything said to friends, family, or on social media could eventually be used in court. You should keep copies of any paperwork you receive from the arresting agency or from district court and write down the names of any potential witnesses while your memory is fresh. Reaching out promptly to a criminal defense lawyer allows you to get advice tailored to your situation and to begin protecting your rights before important decisions are made in your case.
Call the Hunsucker Legal Group at (405) 544-2992 to schedule a free, no-risk case consultation today.
Our FAQ
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When is assault and battery considered a felony in Oklahoma?Domestic A&B with a dangerous weapon, that is a felony carrying up to 10. And then Domestic A&B with a deadly weapon, that too is a felony. Then you have a domestic A&B with a pattern of abuse, and then aggravated assault and battery, which we talked about earlier. And then it gets more specific with aggravated A&B. You get aggravated A&B on a law officer, some kind of government agent, a police officer. That’s general. Then you get aggravated A&B upon state employees, which also covers A&B on police officers. So all these are felonies. They all carry a different range of punishments. Then you have A&B on emergency personnel. We’ve experienced that quite a bit, especially in the DUI field. You have somebody who’s been taken in to get a blood draw, they all of a sudden come to a realization of what’s happening, they start kicking, they kick some medical personnel, all of a sudden not only do they have a DUI, they get an A&B on a medical personnel, same thing with police officers. We get a lot of those just stemming from the DUI. And then you’ve got A&B on a lady who’s pregnant or someone who’s pregnant. That too, will get you into the felony range. A&B by strangulation, that will take it into the felony range as well.
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Are Oklahoma courts strict when prosecuting assault and battery crimes?Typically, the DA is going to file it as an A&B on a police officer. If they read the facts and it’s clear that, let’s say they get in an accident and it’s not really the alcohol that’s causing the person to act out—let’s say they got in the accident and were pumped full of pain meds, and then when they wear off, that person’s in pain, becomes irate, kicks medical personnel, they’ll charge it, but usually we can get it to where they will reduce it back down to just simple A&B to misdemeanor. Or at least that’s the goal. But they always charge the major offense and then they make you work to get it knocked down to a misdemeanor.
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What are the penalties for assault and battery on a law enforcement officer in Oklahoma?Well, if anyone attacks or commits an assault—from the definition of assault under Oklahoma statute—upon a police officer, sheriff, deputy sheriff, highway patrolman, corrections personnel, or other state or peace officer who has been employed, or is duly appointed by any state governmental agency to enforce state laws while the officer is in the performance of his or her duties, is an assault and battery on a police officer or a law enforcement officer. The possible punishment is imprisonment in the county jail, not to exceed six months, or by a fine not exceeding $500, or by both such fine and imprisonment. As more of those occur, if more than one occurs, then the punishments, of course, can go up. Now there is, if the person who is accused of this has a justifiable or excusable cause for the assault or and/or battery, then that is a possible defense to the charge. There’s another offense or another element to this that is knowingly. Knowingly means that you have, they have to know that it’s a police officer. Either the officer has to have identified themselves or be in uniform. If it’s an off-duty officer that they get in a fight with at a gas station, then that is not an assault and battery on a police officer.
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What is assault and battery against a special victim in Oklahoma?
In Oklahoma we don’t have any statutes that refer to special victims getting special treatment, if you will. But if you wanted to, we do have some laws in Oklahoma, such as the assault battery on a law enforcement officer. We also have assault and battery upon a medical technician, those kinds of—I mean, you could consider those special victims because there are special statutes to protect them while they’re in the course of doing their job. There are also certain statues that protect children a little differently. For example, we have the driving-under-the-influence charges in the state of Oklahoma. There is also a law in Oklahoma that has a felony charge for child endangerment by DUI whereby any, if you are arrested for DUI or charged with DUI and you have a child in the car that is under the age of 18, they can charge you with felony child endangerment. So there’s not a per se special victims unit or special victims crimes in the state of Oklahoma like you see on TV with the Law & Order Special Victims Unit where they deal with sex crimes and stuff. There are no dedicated—to the best of my knowledge— in the state of Oklahoma, dedicated units to those crimes. And there’s no designated special victims.
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What are some possible defenses against assault and battery charges in Oklahoma?First of all, if you’re not the instigator of an incident, f you’re not the aggressor in an incident, if you are attacked, you have the right in Oklahoma to defend yourself. But you can only respond with like force. For example, if a person comes up and is using hands, feet, non-deadly weapons, then you cannot pull out a gun and shoot them. That is, that’s an escalation of violence that is above, the response was not proportionate to the threat. Basically if you’re acting in self-defense, that is a defense to assault and battery. Or if you could show that it was an accident, that would be a defense—that could be a defense to assault and battery. Assault is verbally accosting someone, basically. Battery is where you’re actually laying hands on somebody in an unwelcome manner. So if you yell an obscenity at somebody and they take offense and think, “Well, I’m afraid he’s going to come hit me.” “Well, what I said was not directed at you.” That could also be considered a defense because you’re not directing that at them, they had no reason to believe that you were threatening harm against them. With a battery if you could show that you didn’t touch the person, or that it was an accident, that you had no intent to harm them or even touch them, that could be a defense.
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Can you be charged with assault and battery in Oklahoma even if you believe you acted in self-defense?
You can always be charged with a crime, even if self-defense is your defense. Because self-defense is an affirmative defense. Once you raise self-defense as an affirmative defense, it is then appoint you to show that you were—that you had reason to believe you were in fear for your life, or for your well-being. The state then has a duty or has the burden to show that your belief or your fear was not reasonable. So it’s when you raise, when you raise self-defense, you can act in self-defense but you have to make sure that you are acting, truly acting in self-defense, because they can still charge you with a crime, you just use self-defense as your defense.
And I’ll give you a prime example: Let’s say that you were at a nightclub and someone came up and started pushing you, and shoving you, calling you dirty names, and took a swing at you. And you swung back and knocked him out. One punch knocked him out. And to you, that was the end of it, and you walked away. And the person come to and says, “Well, I had to have been sucker-punched. Because there’s no way that he could knock me out.” So now he’s going to sue you, or press charges for assault and battery. Well, they’re going to come and arrest you, they’re going to come fingerprint you, and take your mugshot, and file charges against you for assault and battery. But your defense is, there was no assault and battery; he accosted me, he attacked me. I acted in self-defense. So usually the defense of self-defense only comes up when you’re responding to allegations against yourself. Or against that person.
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What is a deferred sentence in Oklahoma and can it apply to an assault and battery case?
A deferred sentence in Oklahoma is a type of probation usually extended to first-time offenders of most crimes. It does apply to assault battery, but it’s not always offered and it depends on the circumstances of the justice system in Oklahoma. Our incarceration rates are extremely high and they’re not always looking to put somebody in jail. However, they need tools in order to keep that from happening. But, yet still, rehabilitate what they consider to be offenders. So what they’ve come up with and what the state has come up with, is deferred sentence. Basically what it is, is you go in there and say, okay you need to either plead guilty to the charges or no contest to the charges, whichever the case may be. But as part of your plea negotiation, the state says, okay if you’ll do these things, over this period of time—one year, two years, five years, even up to 10 years—in the state of Oklahoma, you can be on a deferred sentence. The court will not enter an adjudication of guilt. It appears as if they found you guilty, but you—but there is no finding of guilt. There is no conviction to the crime either, while you’re on probation, or if you’re successful after your probation is up. Instead what happens is, at the time of the plea, the defendant enters a guilty or no contest plea, whichever is able to be negotiated. The judge says, “Okay, I’m going to defer sentencing until whatever date, for whatever period of time.” Which means that that person is on probation for that period of time. During that time they have to do certain things. For example, with a DUI, they have to do a drug and alcohol assessment, DUI school, victim’s impact panel, potentially some community service, a judicial assessment of however much money in court costs and cost of incarceration.
With an assault battery, it could be an anger management class that they have to complete. But once they complete all of that and they pay all their fees and court costs and everything, as long as they’re in compliance, then when the date that their deferred sentence is over with, in some cases—in many cases in Oklahoma—the defendant does not have to reappear. The court automatically withdraws their plea of no contest or guilty, reenters a plea of not guilty for the defendant, and dismisses the charges. So there’s no, there’s never a conviction that appears on the books for that particular charge. What is nice about that, as far as most people are concerned, is on a true first offender, especially a young adult or young teenager, or whatever, is that upon completion of a deferred sentence, they may then be eligible for an expungement. Whereby they can get their arrest records sealed, and their court records sealed where the general public cannot go out and search that person and find a conviction on them. It truly gives the individual or the defendant a second chance, if you will, of being a productive citizen of society. In all those instances, though, even if they qualify for the expungement, due to a deferred sentence, the law enforcement will always be able to see it.
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What is Assault in Oklahoma?Well, assault would be a willful or unlawful attempt with force or violence to do some kind of hurt to another. It’s not actual contact, just an attempt to use force on somebody else.
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What is Battery in Oklahoma?That would be the willful or unlawful use of force or violence upon another person. So you actually do make physical contact with them.
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Does assault always precede battery in Oklahoma?The assault does, yes. You can have a battery without the assault if it’s charged that way. Technically every battery includes an assault. But not every assault has a battery.
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DEFENDING OVER 500 CRIMINAL CASES A YEAR John Hunsucker, Director on the Board of the Oklahoma Criminal Defense Lawyer’s Association
With decades of courtroom experience, John Hunsucker leads one of Oklahoma’s most respected criminal defense teams. As a former prosecutor and seasoned trial attorney, he brings unmatched insight and strategy to every case. John and his team prioritize continuing legal education and advanced training each year, ensuring they remain at the forefront of criminal defense not just across Oklahoma, but nationwide.
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