The 4 Degrees of Assault in Washington State

Assault is a many-layered charge. In theory, you may already be committing 4th degree assault if you tell someone you’re about to touch their elbow with your finger when you know they don’t want you to. On the other hand, successfully poisoning someone may be an assault in the 1st degree.

Speaking very generally, assault is defined as a) intentionally touching someone in an unwanted and/or harmful way, b) trying and failing to touch someone in an unwanted and/or harmful way, and/or c) intentionally making someone afraid that you’re going to touch them in an unwanted and/or harmful way.

1st Degree Assault

An assault is of the 1st degree when it was committed with the intent to “inflict great bodily harm” using a weapon or other means that is “likely to produce great bodily harm or death”.

2nd Degree Assault

One of the most basic differences between the 1st and 2nd degrees of assault is the risk of death. If the aforementioned great bodily harm was likely to cause death, we may be talking about a 1st degree charge. If it wasn’t, it might be more likely that we’re talking about a 2nd degree charge.

3rd Degree Assault

3rd degree assault introduces many more variables; chief among them is criminal negligence. A person may be accused of 3rd degree assault if the bodily harm to other(s) resulted from that person’s criminal negligence. 

Incidentally, a 4th degree assault can be raised to 3rd degree if it happened while the alleged victim was carrying out their duties as one of several types of worker. Examples include police officers, healthcare providers, courthouse employees, and transit operators. 

4th Degree Assault

If none of the above conditions apply, an assault may be classified as being of the 4th degree, which is a gross misdemeanor. In fact, according to the text of the law, an assault is of the 4th degree if, “under circumstances not amounting to assault in the first, second, or third degree… (a person) assaults another.”

You can look at 4th degree assault as a catchall. If the alleged incident didn’t inflict great bodily harm and wasn’t the result of criminal negligence, it might be a 4th-degree situation. 

You Need an Assault Lawyer

Even if the charge against you is of the mildest, 4th-degree variety, you’re still running the risk of spending at least some time in jail and having to pay thousands of dollars in fines. Call Verity Criminal Defense as soon as possible, get a free case review, and find out where exactly you stand.