Is Spitting In Someone’s Face Assault in Oklahoma?

Spitting In someone’s face is an assault and battery in Oklahoma. Any threat or attempt to cause physical harm is legally called an assault. An assault is technically the threats and threatening behavior but not the physical contact with the person being threatened. A separate crime of battery involves contact between the aggressor and the other person. The two charges are often combined and frequently are discussed together as assault and battery. Intentionally spitting on someone in anger is an assault and battery because the saliva from your mouth came in contact with the person as you intended.

Assault Legal Requirements 

The threat to harm someone, when a threatening action accompanies it, can rise to the level of an assault. Simply using words alone is not enough to make an assault. The physical activity can be as simple as raising an arm as if to strike a blow or stepping forward toward the person being assaulted in a threatening way. The threat of spitting in someone’s face with the victims reasonable belief of harm can be considered an assault.

Battery Legal Requirements 

In a battery, there is a physical force that makes contact between two people. In a battery, a person intends to cause some physical harm, no matter how slight or minor the contact, and carries out the threat. Common examples of battery in Oklahoma include slapping someone, hitting or shoving someone, and even spitting In someone’s face.

Because the two legal ideas are separate, there can be two charges from a single incident. Assault charges can result from threatening words or gestures that came before physical contact, and battery charges can result from the act of making contact in some way. The two charges together are often combined into assault and battery.

Civil And Criminal Cases

The legal terms assault and battery can apply to a civil case. The victim of an assault and battery can sue the person who threatened and harmed them, asking for monetary damages in court. 

The terms can also be criminal charges, which must be brought by the local prosecutor against the defendant accused of assault and battery. Punishment on conviction of a simple criminal assault and battery can result in a few months to a year in jail and fines of a few hundred dollars up to $1,000.

Aggravated Assault And Battery

When a dangerous weapon is involved in the act of violence aimed at causing physical harm to someone, a charge of aggravated assault and battery will result in felony charges. The object used in the attack can include any sharp or potentially harmful item or a gun. 

Many objects can be considered deadly or dangerous weapons for criminal charges of aggravated assault and battery. The object must be used in a way that can lead to serious injury or death, such as a baseball bat swung violently at someone’s head.

Special Classes

Even a simple assault and battery, such as spitting on someone or shoving someone in anger, can result in more severe charges if the person attacked is part of a particular class of individuals protected by the law. Assault and battery charges carry heavy penalties when directed against:

• Judges and court officials, including jurors, up to six months after they’ve served on a jury
• Law officers and emergency medical personnel, while performing their duties
• School employees while acting in their official capacities, or students attending school or an accepted school activity
• Corrections officers assaulted or physically attacked by inmates in custody
• Sports officials and referees

Tulsa Assault And Battery Attorneys

Whether you are facing a civil lawsuit that says you assaulted or attacked someone in anger, or the local prosecutor is bringing criminal charges against you for assault and battery, you owe it to yourself to get the best legal guidance. Call the Tulsa assault lawyers at Kania Law or contact us online to schedule an initial consultation.