What a violent crime charge actually is.
Violent crime is a heading rather than a single offence, and the charges under it range from a misdemeanour touching to attempted murder. What they share is that the prosecution has to prove something about force, or about the threat of it.
The most common misunderstanding is that these charges require a serious injury. Several do not require an injury at all, and some do not require contact. Assault under Penal Code 240 is an attempt to apply force, which means it can be charged where nobody was touched. Criminal threats under Penal Code 422 can be charged on words alone.
What usually raises the stakes is not the harm done but the strike consequence. A conviction on a serious or violent felony is counted for the rest of your life under California's three strikes law, and it changes the exposure on any case that comes afterwards. That is why the charge as filed, and what it is resolved to, matters more here than in almost any other area.
Violent crime charges I defend.
These are the charges I defend across California. If what you were arrested for is not on this list, or you are not sure what you have been charged with, call me and I will read the paperwork with you.
Common violent crime offences
- Simple assault (Penal Code 240). An attempt to apply force. No contact and no injury is required for the charge.
- Battery (Penal Code 242). Any wilful and unlawful touching. The bar for contact is far lower than most people expect.
- Battery with serious bodily injury (Penal Code 243(d)). A wobbler that turns on how the injury is characterised, which is frequently contested.
- Criminal threats (Penal Code 422). Words alone can support this charge. It is a strike when charged as a felony, and the section was amended in 2025.
- Brandishing a weapon (Penal Code 417). Displaying a weapon in a rude or threatening manner, without any use of it.
- Resisting arrest (Penal Code 148(a)(1)). Very often added to another charge, and very often the count with the weakest support.
Serious violent felonies
- Assault with a deadly weapon (Penal Code 245(a)(1)). A strike offence. An object becomes a deadly weapon by how it is used, not by what it is.
- Assault likely to produce great bodily injury (Penal Code 245(a)(4)). Charged on the force used rather than the injury caused, so it can be filed where nobody was seriously hurt.
- Robbery (Penal Code 211). A theft accompanied by force or fear. The force element is often the whole case.
- Kidnapping (Penal Code 207). Movement of a person by force or fear. The distance required is smaller than most people assume.
- Mayhem (Penal Code 203). Disabling or disfiguring another person. Charged where an injury is permanent.
- Aggravated mayhem (Penal Code 205). Mayhem with a specific intent to disable or disfigure, carrying markedly higher exposure.
- Assault with intent to commit a felony (Penal Code 220). The intent element is what is charged, and it is proved by inference rather than directly.
- Attempted murder (Penal Code 664 and 187). Requires a specific intent to kill, which is a higher bar than the act alone establishes.
Related charges often filed alongside
Violent crime cases rarely arrive as a single count. These are the charges most often filed with one.
- Corporal injury on a spouse or partner (Penal Code 273.5). Where the parties are in a listed relationship, the same conduct is charged under a different section.
- False imprisonment (Penal Code 236). Restraining someone's liberty. Commonly filed alongside an assault arising from the same incident.
- Resisting an executive officer (Penal Code 69). The felony counterpart to resisting arrest, charged where force or threat is alleged.
- Witness or victim intimidation (Penal Code 136.1). Frequently added after charging, often from recorded jail calls. Amended in 2025.
Enhancements and strike consequences
Enhancements are charged separately from the offence and can carry more exposure than the count they attach to.
- Great bodily injury enhancement (Penal Code 12022.7). Adds consecutive time and can convert an offence into a strike.
- Firearm enhancements (Penal Code 12022.53). Applies where a firearm was used in a listed felony, with exposure that can exceed the underlying count.
- Gang enhancement (Penal Code 186.22). Requires proof about an organisation, not only about you. The requirements were tightened in 2021.
- Serious felony and strike consequences (Penal Code 1192.7(c)). The list that determines whether a conviction counts as a strike for the rest of your life.
- Prior prison term enhancement (Penal Code 667.5). Adds time based on the record rather than on the current offence.
This covers the charges that come up most often, but it is not everything. Charging documents are written for the court rather than for the person holding them, and working out what you are actually facing is the first useful thing that happens in a case like this.
What a violent crime conviction can cost.
Which consequences apply depends on the count, the record, and whether an enhancement is charged alongside it.
- Custody. Exposure runs from none to a life term, depending on the offence and on what is charged with it.
- Strike consequences. A serious or violent felony conviction is counted permanently. It lengthens the sentence on any future case and limits how much of a term can be served on credits.
- Firearm rights. A felony conviction carries a lifetime prohibition, and several misdemeanours in this category carry one for a period of years.
- Protective orders. Often issued at the first appearance, before anything has been decided, and they can affect where you live and whether you see your children.
- Immigration. Many of these offences are treated as crimes involving moral turpitude or as aggravated felonies. This needs looking at before a plea, not after one.
- Professional licensing. Licensing boards reach their own conclusions on their own timelines, independently of the court.
- Employment and housing. A conviction is public and searchable long after the sentence ends.
Where your exposure sits within those ranges is a question about your case rather than about the charge in general. That is a conversation, not a webpage.
Why violent crime charges are worth taking seriously.
The filing decision is not the last word
Charges are filed at the top of what the report will support, and the report is written by one side, early, from an account given by people who were upset. What is filed on day one is frequently not what the evidence sustains. The period before the preliminary hearing is where that gets tested.
Self-defence is a real answer, not an excuse
California law permits reasonable force in defence of yourself or someone else, and it does not require you to have been the smaller party or to have retreated first. Mutual fights get reported by whoever picks up the phone first, and that person becomes the complaining witness by default rather than by merit.
The evidence has a shelf life
Bodycam and surveillance footage, dispatch recordings, and photographs of injuries taken while they are fresh all sit somewhere with a retention schedule attached. Asking for them early is a different exercise from asking for them late.
What experience with these charges actually changes
It is knowing which counts tend to be overfiled, which enhancements are commonly charged and less commonly proved, and what a given county's filings usually look like once they are examined. It is also knowing when a strike is genuinely negotiable and when it is not. I have been doing this since 1999.
Whether hiring an attorney is worth it depends on what you are facing. On a misdemeanour battery with no injury and no record, there are people who reasonably decide to handle it themselves. Where a strike, an enhancement, a firearm allegation or an immigration question is in play, the consequences compound in ways that are very difficult to undo afterwards. Call me and I will tell you honestly which of those situations you are in, and what representation would cost.
How I defend violent crime cases.
- Case investigation — the reports, the footage, the photographs, the recorded calls, and the accounts given before anyone had time to settle on a version.
- Testing the case — whether the force element is supported, whether an injury meets the definition charged, whether self-defence applies, and whether each enhancement has evidence behind it or is simply attached.
- The preliminary hearing — the first point at which the prosecution has to show its case rather than describe it.
- Negotiation with the deputy district attorney assigned to your case, with the strike consequence treated as the thing that matters most.
- Trial readiness where the offer does not reflect what the file will support.
- Personal attention — you work with us directly.
I have been licensed to practise in California since 1999, State Bar number 203402, and I defend these cases across nine Northern California counties from offices in Sacramento and Roseville. When you call, I will read what you have, tell you whether a strike is in play, and tell you what happens next.
Where I handle violent crime cases.
I appear in the criminal courts of all nine counties below. The court that hears your case is set by where the arrest happened, not by where you live.
Sacramento County Placer County Yolo County El Dorado County San Joaquin County Butte County Yuba County Solano County Sutter County
Where a city has enough demand for this charge to warrant its own page, I have written one:
Violent crime questions I hear most.
What makes a charge a strike in California?
Whether the offence appears on the serious or violent felony lists, principally Penal Code 1192.7(c). Assault with a deadly weapon, robbery and criminal threats charged as a felony are on it; simple battery is not. A strike is counted permanently and lengthens the sentence on any later case, which is why what a charge is resolved to matters more than the sentence attached to it. See domestic violence charges, which raise the same question in a different setting.
Can I be charged with assault if I never touched anyone?
Yes. Penal Code 240 defines assault as an attempt to apply force, so contact is not required and neither is injury. Battery under Penal Code 242 is the section that requires touching, and the threshold for that is far lower than most people expect. Which of the two is charged, and whether it is a felony, is often where the real argument is.
What if I was defending myself?
Self-defence and defence of another are complete defences in California, and the law does not require you to have retreated first. The difficulty is rarely the law and usually the record: in a mutual fight the person who calls first tends to be treated as the complaining witness. Establishing what actually happened means getting to the footage and the independent witnesses early.
Why has the district attorney charged more counts than there were incidents?
Because charges are filed at the top of what the report will support, and a single incident commonly produces an assault count, a battery count, a threats count and an enhancement. That is a starting position rather than a finding. Whether each count is actually supported is what the preliminary hearing is for. How that process runs varies by county — see Sacramento County and Placer County.
What is a great bodily injury enhancement?
Penal Code 12022.7 adds consecutive time where the prosecution proves a significant or substantial physical injury, and it can convert an offence into a strike. It is charged separately from the underlying count, which means it can be contested separately, and whether an injury meets the definition is frequently arguable.
Will a violent crime conviction affect my right to own a firearm?
A felony conviction carries a lifetime prohibition under California and federal law. Several misdemeanours in this category carry a prohibition for a period of years, and domestic-violence-related convictions carry their own federal consequence. If firearms matter to your work, say so on the first call, because it changes what an acceptable resolution looks like.
What does defending a violent crime case cost?
It depends on the counts, whether a strike or an enhancement is charged, the county, and whether the case is likely to resolve or be tried. Call and I will tell you what representation in your situation would cost before you commit to anything. For the general picture, see what a criminal defence lawyer costs in California and whether it is worth hiring one.
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