Colorado Assault Defense Attorneys

In Colorado, assault covers a wide variety of situations in which one person injures or threatens to injure another person. There are three degrees of assault, ranging from a class 1 misdemeanor to a class 3 felony. Whether a person commits assault-and the degree of the assault-depends upon his or her state of mind at the time of the incident, his or her actions, and the victim’s identity.

First-Degree Assault, Colo. Rev. Stat. § 18-3-202

Generally, a person commits first-degree assault under the following circumstances:

• He or she intends to cause serious bodily injury to another person, and does in fact cause serious bodily injury to any person with a deadly weapon.
• He or she intends to seriously and permanently disfigure another person, or intends to destroy, amputate, or permanently disable another person’s body part, and does in fact cause such an injury to any person.
• He or she displays extreme indifference to the value of human life and knowingly acts in a way that creates a grave risk of death to another person, and thereby causes serious bodily injury to any person.

In order to deter individuals from acting violently toward certain government officials, Colorado law mandates that under certain circumstances, a person need not cause bodily injury to the victim in order to commit first-degree assault. Thus, in addition to the general circumstances listed above, a person commits first-degree assault under the following circumstances:

• He or she intends to cause serious bodily injury to a peace officer or firefighter, threatens with a deadly weapon a peace officer or firefighter engaged in the performance of his or her duties, and knows or should know that the victim is a peace officer or firefighter engaged in the performance of his or her duties.
• He or she intends to cause serious bodily injury to a judge or an officer of the court, threatens a judge or officer of the court with a deadly weapon, and knows or should know that the victim is a judge or officer of the court.
• He or she is lawfully confined or in custody, intends to cause serious bodily harm to a detention facility employee or to a youth services worker engaged in the performance of his or her duties, threatens such a person with a deadly weapon, and knows or should know the victim is a detention facility employee or a youth services worker engaged in the performance of his or her duties.

All first-degree assaults are considered violent crimes that present an extraordinary risk of harm to society. First-degree assault committed under “heat of passion” is a class 5 felony that carries a minimum sentence of two and a half years of imprisonment, and a maximum sentence of eight years of imprisonment. Otherwise, first-degree assault is a class 3 felony that carries a minimum sentence of ten years of imprisonment and a maximum sentence of 32 years of imprisonment.

Second-Degree Assault, Colo. Rev. Stat. § 18-3-203

A person commits second-degree assault in the following circumstances:

• He or she intends to cause bodily injury to another person-as opposed to intending to cause serious bodily injury-and does in fact cause bodily injury to any person with a deadly weapon.
• He or she intends to prevent a peace officer from performing a lawful duty and intentionally causes bodily injury to any person.
• He or she recklessly causes serious bodily injury to another person with a deadly weapon.
• He or she intentionally causes stupor, unconsciousness, or other physical or mental impairment or injury to another person by administering, without consent, a drug or substance.
• He or she is lawfully confined or in custody, knowingly and violently applies physical force against a peace officer or firefighter engaged in the performance of his or her duties, or against a judge or an officer of the court, or against a detention facility employee, or against a DHS youth services employee, AND that person knows or should know that the victim is one of those specified individuals.
• He or she is lawfully confined in a detention facility, intends to infect, injure, harm, harass, annoy, threaten, or alarm a detention facility employee, and causes such an employee to come into contact with blood, seminal fluid, urine, feces, saliva, mucus, or any toxic, caustic, or hazardous material by any means.
• He or she intends to cause bodily injury to another person-as opposed to intending to cause serious bodily injury-but actually causes serious bodily injury to any person.

Like first-degree assaults, all second-degree assaults are considered violent crimes that present an extraordinary risk of harm to society. Second-degree assault committed under “heat of passion” is a class 6 felony that carries a minimum sentence eighteen months of imprisonment and a maximum sentence of four years of imprisonment. Second-degree assault that causes serious bodily injury and occurs during the commission, attempted commission, or flight from a commission or attempted commission of certain serious felonies is a class 3 felony that carries a minimum sentence of ten years of imprisonment and a maximum sentence of 32 years of imprisonment. Otherwise, second-degree assault is a class 4 felony that carries a minimum sentence of 5 years of imprisonment, and a maximum sentence of sixteen years of imprisonment.

Third-Degree Assault, Colo. Rev. Stat. § 18-3-204

A person commits third-degree assault in the following circumstances:

• He or she knowingly or recklessly causes bodily injury to another person.
• He or she acts with criminal negligence and causes bodily injury to another person with a deadly weapon.
• He or she, with intent to infect, injure, harm, harass, annoy, threaten, or alarm another person he or she knows or should know to be a peace officer, a firefighter, an emergency medical care provider, or an emergency medical service provider, causes the other person to come into contact with blood, seminal fluid, urine, feces, saliva, mucus, vomit, or toxic, caustic, or hazardous material by any means.

Third-degree assault is a class 1 misdemeanor and is a crime that presents an extraordinary risk of harm to society. Its minimum punishment is six months of imprisonment, or $500, or both; and its maximum punishment is two years of imprisonment, or $5,000, or both.