Punching a person is a battery under California law (per Penal Code 242), and it could be charged as a felony if you:
- punched a public servant, as in a police officer, firefighter, or EMT, or
- punched a person and it caused great bodily injury.
In both of the above scenarios, the battery is charged as a wobbler offense, which means the crime gets charged as either a misdemeanor or a felony at the prosecutor’s discretion.
Please note that a “simple battery” under California criminal law is defined as:
- any willful or unlawful use of force or violence, and
- the force is committed on someone else.
Also note that you can raise a legal defense to try and challenge the accusation. Two common defenses include that you:
- acted in self-defense, and
- did not act willfully.
Simple Battery
The legal definition of “simple battery” in California is as follows:
- you touched someone else,
- the touching was done willfully, and
- it was done in a harmful or offensive manner.
Note that a “touching” means that you make some type of physical contact with another person. It is not necessary that an injury results from the contact. In fact, the slightest touching can be a battery.
“Harmful or offensive” means a touching that is
- violent,
- rude,
- angry, or
- disrespectful.
Simple battery is charged as a misdemeanor. The crime is punishable by:
- misdemeanor (summary) probation,
- up to six months in county jail, and/or
- a fine of up to $2,000.
Battery on a Peace Officer
One of the ways in which battery can be charged as a felony is if it was committed on a peace officer or similar public servant, per 243b PC and 243c2 PC.
The specific classes of people protected by the crime of “battery on a peace officer” are people in the following occupations, engaged in the performance of their duties:
- police officer,
- firefighter,
- EMT or paramedic,
- lifeguard,
- security officer,
- process server,
- traffic officer,
- animal control officer, or
- a doctor or nurse providing emergency medical care.
A violation of these statutes is a wobbler, meaning that it can be charged as either a misdemeanor or a felony.
If charged as a misdemeanor, the offense is punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for up to one year.
If charged as a felony, the crime is punishable by imprisonment in the California state prison for:
- 16 months,
- two years, or
- three years.
Causing Great Bodily Injury
The second way (of two ways) in which battery can be charged as a felony is if you commit a battery on a person and you cause a serious injury in doing so. Per PC 242d, this offense is known as battery causing great bodily injury, or “aggravated battery.”
Aggravated battery is a wobbler under California law, which means it may be charged as either a misdemeanor or a felony.
The maximum misdemeanor sentence for this offense is up to one year in county jail.
If the crime is charged as a California felony, battery causing serious bodily injury can lead to imprisonment in the State prison for:
- two years,
- three years, or
- four years.
Defenses to Battery
Two common legal defenses to a California battery charge include:
- you acted in self-defense, and
- you did not act willfully.
Note that with regards to a defense involving self-defense, it can work provided that:
- you reasonably believed that you or someone else was in imminent danger of suffering bodily injury or being touched unlawfully,
- you reasonably believed that the immediate use of force was necessary to defend against that danger, and
- you used no more force than was reasonably necessary to defend against that danger.
As to a defense of not acting willfully, it might be the case that you committed a harmful touching by accident.
Assault vs Battery
California assault and California battery are, in reality, completely different offenses. The difference is that:
- Penal Code 240 assault is an action that may inflict physical harm or unwanted touching on someone else, and
- Penal Code 242 battery is the actual infliction of force or violence on someone else.
An assault doesn’t necessarily involve any actual physical contact, whereas a battery does. Put another way, an assault is like an “attempted battery,” and a battery is like a “completed assault.”
Additional reading
For more in-depth information, refer to these scholarly articles:
- Aggravated Battery – The Fist or Teeth as a Dangerous Weapon – Louisiana Law Review.
- Territorial Aggression – Expanding California’s Penal Code Regarding Assault and Battery of Code Enforcement Officers – McGeorge Law Review.
- What’s Reasonable: Self-Defense and Mistake in Criminal and Tort Law – Lewis & Clark Law Review.
- Defending Battered Women’s Self-Defense Claims – Oregon Law Review.
- Assault and Battery – Injury Sustained in Prize Fight – Consent as a Bar to Civil Liability – Vanderbilt Law Review.
