Crimes against people contain offenses that usually involve causing bodily harm to another person, threatening to cause bodily harm to another person, or other actions committed against the will of an individual. An aggravated offense occurs when the crime is made worse or more serious due to certain circumstances such as using a deadly weapon. Aggravated offenses come with more severe penalties.
O.C.G.A. §16-5-20: A person commits the offense of simple assault when he or she either (1) attempts to commit a violent injury to the person of another; or (2) commits an act which places another in reasonable apprehension of immediately receiving a violent injury.
O.C.G.A. § 16-5-21: A person commits the offense of aggravated assault when he or she assaults:
O.C.G.A. §16-5-24, A person commits the offense of aggravated battery when he or she maliciously causes bodily harm to another by depriving him or her of a member of his or her body, by rendering a member of his or her body useless, or by seriously disfiguring his or her body or a member thereof.
Some examples of aggravated battery include:
The crime of aggravated battery does not require that a victim's disfigurement be permanent. However, the injury must be more severe than a mere visible or superficial wound.
The predicate crime of stalking is defined in O.C.G.A. §16-5-90:
A person will be convicted of stalking when he or she follows, places under surveillance, or contacts another person at or about a place or places without the consent of the other person for the purpose of harassing and intimidating the other person.
However, the crime can become elevated to aggravated stalking when a person, in violation of a bond to keep the peace posted pursuant to Code Section 17-6-10, temporary restraining order, temporary protective order, permanent restraining order, permanent protective order, preliminary injunction, good behavior bond, or permanent injunction or condition of pretrial release, condition of probation or condition of parole in effect prohibiting the behavior described in this subsection, follows, places under surveillance, or contacts another person at or about a place or places without the consent of the other person for the purpose of harassing and intimidating the other person. O.C.G.A. §16-5-91
O.C.G.A. §16-5-20, A person commits the offense of simple assault when he or she either (1) attempts to commit a violent injury to the person of another; or (2) commits an act which places another in reasonable apprehension of immediately receiving a violent injury.
A person commits the offense of simple assault when he or she either (1) attempts to commit a violent injury to the person of another; or (2) commits an act, which places another in reasonable apprehension of immediately receiving a violent injury. O.C.G.A. §16-5-20
The crime of assault differs with regards to an unborn child because the child is unaware that they will be injured. Therefore, Georgia established their own statute to deal specifically with unborn children. First, Georgia law defines unborn child as a member of the species homo sapiens at any stage of development who is carried in the womb. O.C.G.A. §16-5-28(a)
O.C.G.A. §16-5-28 defines the crime of assault on an unborn child as:
A person commits the offense of assault on an unborn child when such person, without legal justification, attempts to inflict violent injury to an unborn child.
Georgia law defines suicide as the intentional and willful termination of one's life.
O.C.G.A. § 16-5-5 states any person with actual knowledge that another intends to commit suicide who knowingly and willfully assists such person in the commission of such person's suicide.
Georgia law defines assists as the act of physically helping or physically providing the means.
Battery is often confused with the crime of assault. A person commits battery when they intentionally cause substantial harm or visible bodily harm to another.
O.C.G.A. §16-5-23.1: A person commits the offense of battery when he or she intentionally causes substantial harm or visible bodily harm to another.
Furthermore, the statute defines “visible bodily harm” as “bodily harm capable of being perceived by a person other than the victim and may include, but is not limited to, substantially blackened eyes, substantially swollen lips or other facial or body parts, or substantial bruises to body parts.”
The crime of battery of an unborn child carries negative reactions within the community. Georgia defines a crime as a battery when someone intentionally causes substantial harm or visible bodily harm to another. O.C.G.A. §16-5-23.1. Also, Georgia has their own statute for when that battery is committed upon an unborn child. Under Georgia law, an unborn child means a member of the species homo sapiens at any stage of development who is carried in the womb. O.C.G.A. §16-5-29.
O.C.G.A. §16-5-29 states a person commits the offense of battery of an unborn child when such person, without legal justification, intentionally inflicts physical harm upon an unborn child.
Cruelty to children is broken down into three different degrees. First-degree cruelty to children occurs when a parent, guardian, or other person supervising a child under the age of 18 willfully deprives the child of necessary sustenance to the extent that the child's well being is jeopardized. In addition, cruelty to children in the first degree includes when a person maliciously causes a child under the age of 18 cruel or excessive physical or mental pain. O.C.G.A. §16-5-70 (a)-(b).
Second-degree cruelty to children occurs when a person with criminal negligence causes a child less than 18 years old cruel or excessive physical or mental pain. O.C.G.A. §16-5-70(c)
Third-degree cruelty to children occurs when either
False imprisonment is similar to the crime of kidnapping. It occurs when a person in violation of the personal liberty of another, arrests, confines, or detains another person without legal authority.
Georgia Law O.C.G.A. § 16-5-41 reads as follows:
A person commits the offense of false imprisonment when, in violation of the personal liberty of another, he arrests, confines, or detains such person without legal authority.
Georgia Law O.C.G.A. §16-5-1(c) reads as follows:
A person commits the offense of murder when, in the commission of a felony, he or she causes the death of another human being irrespective of malice.
O.C.G.A. §16-5-27: Any person will be guilty of female genital mutilation:
O.C.G.A. §16-5-80(b), A person commits the offense of feticide if he or she willfully and without legal justification causes the death of an unborn child by any injury to the mother of such child, which would be murder if it resulted in the death of such mother, or if he or she, when in the commission of a felony, causes the death of an unborn child.
Under Georgia law, an unborn child means a member of the species homo sapiens at any stage of development who is carried in the womb. O.C.G.A. §16-5-29.
O.C.G.A. §16-5-61 states that hazing means to subject a student to an activity which endangers or is likely to endanger the physical health of a student, regardless of the student's willingness to participate in such activity.
Furthermore, It shall be unlawful for any person to haze any student in connection with or as a condition or precondition of gaining acceptance, membership, office, or other status in a school organization.
There have been numerous organizations that have tried to reform the hazing laws as they argue that hazing is an important part of the initiation process for Greek organizations, sports teams, and other clubs. The Courts have not acknowledged the attempts and have continued to treat hazing as a crime.
O.C.G.A. §16-6-45(b)
A person commits the offense of interference with custody when without lawful authority to do so, the person:
O.C.G.A. §16-5-45(c)
A person commits the offense of interstate interference with custody when without lawful authority to do so:
(1) The person knowingly or recklessly takes or entices any minor or committed person away from the individual who has lawful custody of such minor or committed person and in so doing brings such minor or committed person into this state or removes such minor or committed person from this state, or;
(2) The person removes a minor or committed person from this state in a lawful exercise of their visitation right but upon the expiration of the period of lawful visitation, they intentional keep the minor or committed person in another state for the purpose of keeping them away from the person who has lawful custody of them.
Georgia Law O.C.G.A. §16-5-3, A person commits the offense of involuntary manslaughter in the commission of an unlawful act when he causes the death of another human being without any intention to do so:
In Georgia, felonies include murder, rape, robbery, armed robbery, and kidnapping.
A person commits the offense of kidnapping when such person abducts or steals away another person without lawful authority or warrant and holds such other person against his or her will.
For crimes occurring after July 1, 2009, then the elements laid out in O.C.G.A. § 16-5-40(b) will apply.
The elements of kidnapping as laid out in Georgia law state that just a slight movement is sufficient to constitute a crime. That action is also called asportation. However, if the movement of the victim is incidental to the commission of another crime, then kidnapping has not occurred. Situations in which the action is not considered kidnapping but instead incidental to another crime include when it:
O.C.G.A. § 16-5-43, A person who maliciously causes the confinement of a sane person, knowing such person to be sane, in any asylum, public or private.
O.C.G.A. §16-5-1(a), A person commits the offense of murder when he unlawfully and with malice aforethought, express or implied, causes the death of another human being.
Case law has defined malice as a wicked or corrupt motive or an intention to do evil and which the result is fatal and an unlawful objective to kill without justification or mitigation.
Express malice is the deliberate intention to unlawfully take the life of another human being, which is manifested by external circumstances capable of proof. Malice shall be implied where no considerable provocation appears and where all the circumstances of the killing show an abandoned and malignant heart.
Georgia Law O.C.G.A. §16-5-72 reads as follows:
A parent, guardian, or other person supervising the welfare of or having immediate charge or custody of a child under the age of one year commits the offense of reckless abandonment of a child when the person willfully and voluntarily physically abandons such child with the intention of severing all parental or custodial duties and responsibilities to such child and leaving such child in a condition which results in the death of such child.
Georgia Law O.C.G.A. §16-5-60, A person who causes bodily harm to or endangers the bodily safety of another person by consciously disregarding a substantial and unjustifiable risk that his act or omission will cause harm or endanger the safety of the other person and the disregard constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care which a reasonable person would exercise in the situation is guilty of a misdemeanor.
O.C.G.A. §19-13-3 contains the guidelines for protective orders:
(b) Upon the filing of a verified petition in which the petitioner alleges with specific facts that probable cause exists to establish that family violence has occurred in the past and may occur in the future, the court may order such temporary relief ex parte as it deems necessary to protect the petitioner or a minor of the household from violence.
(c) Within ten days of the filing of the petition under this article or as soon as practical thereafter, but in no case later than 30 days after the filing of the petition, a hearing shall be held at which the petitioner must prove the allegations of the petition by a preponderance of the evidence as in other civil cases.
O.C.G.A. §16-5-23, A person commits the offense of simple battery when he or she either (1) intentionally makes physical contact of an insulting or provoking nature with the person of another, or (2) intentionally causes physical harm to another.
The crime of stalking is set out in O.C.G.A. §16-5-90 and states that a person will be convicted when he or she follows, places under surveillance, or contacts another person at or about a place or places without the consent of the other person for the purpose of harassing and intimidating the other person.
The Court has broken down contact to include “any communication including without being limited to communication in person, by telephone, by mail, by broadcast, by computer, by computer network, or by any other electronic device…” O.C.G.A. §16-5-90(a)
Also, the term “harassing and intimidating” has been defined as “a knowing and willful course of conduct directed at a specific person which causes emotional distress by placing such person in reasonable fear for such person's safety or the safety of a member of his or her immediate family, by establishing a pattern of harassing and intimidating behavior, and which serves no legitimate purpose.” O.C.G.A. 16-5-90(a)
The other way a person can be convicted of stalking is if they violate an order to keep the peace such as a temporary restraining order, temporary protective order, or any other order issued by the Court preventing the harassment or intimidation of another person through broadcasts or publishment. This includes electronic publication where the name, picture, address, or phone number of a person was posted without the person's consent in such a manner that causes other persons to harass or intimidate such person and the person making the broadcast or publication knew or had reason to believe that their action would cause such person to be harassed or intimidated. O.C.G.A. §16-5-90(b)
Georgia law defines labor servitude as work or service of economic or financial value which is performed or provided by another individual and is induced or obtained by coercion or deception. O.C.G.A. §16-5-46(a)(5)
Therefore, the crime of labor servitude is when a person knowingly subjects another person to or maintains another person in labor servitude or knowingly recruits, entices, harbors, transports, provides, or obtains by any means another person for the purpose of labor servitude. O.C.G.A. §16-5-46(b)
Sexual servitude means any sexually explicit conduct or performance involving sexually explicit conduct for which anything of value is directly or indirectly given, promised to, or received by any individual, which conduct is induced or obtained:
Therefore, Georgia outlines the crime of sexual servitude as when a person knowingly subjects another person to or maintains another person in sexual servitude or knowingly recruits, entices, harbors, transports, provides, or obtains by any means another for the purpose of sexual servitude. O.C.G.A. §15-5-46(c)
Georgia Law O.C.G.A. §16-5-2, A person commits the offense of voluntary manslaughter when he or she causes the death of another human being under circumstances which would otherwise be murder and if he acts solely as a result of a sudden, violent, and irresistible passion resulting from serious provocation sufficient to excite such passion in a reasonable person; however, if there should have been an interval between the provocation and the killing sufficient for the voice of reason and humanity to be heard, of which the jury in all cases shall be the judge, the killing shall be attributed to deliberate revenge and be punished as murder.
Voluntary manslaughter is similar to murder as it also requires that there be an intent to kill. However, with voluntary manslaughter, the intent or malice requirement is erased by either a provocation producing sudden heat of passion or a diminished mental capacity. In other words, the distinguishing feature of voluntary manslaughter from murder is that it must be done in hot blood, without malice or deliberation.
Georgia Law O.C.G.A. §16-5-80(d) reads as follows,
A person commits the offense of voluntary manslaughter of an unborn child when such person causes the death of an unborn child under circumstances which would otherwise be feticide and if such person acts solely as the result of a sudden, violent, and irresistible passion resulting from serious provocation sufficient to excite such passion in a reasonable person; provided, however, that, if there should have been an interval between the provocation and the killing sufficient for the voice of reason and humanity to be heard, of which the jury in all cases shall be the judge, the killing shall be attributed to deliberate revenge and be punished as feticide.
Under Georgia law, an unborn child means a member of the species homo sapiens at any stage of development who is carried in the womb. O.C.G.A. §16-5-29.
Demarques Lee Williams was charged with aggravated assault and battery. Williams and the victim were invited to a Christmas party. Williams asked the victim to play dice and the victim won all of Williams' money. Williams continued to lose money as the night went on. Later that night, the victim turned around and found Williams had a gun pointed to his head. He tried to push Williams' hand away, but Williams' came back swinging and hit the victim with his pistol. They began fighting and the victim was shot and his spine was severed. Williams was convicted of aggravated assault due to the initial action of pointing the gun at the victim's head. His next action of shooting the victim was considered an act of aggravated battery and he was found guilty of that crime as well. Williams v. State, 332 Ga. App. 805, (2015).
The Court found sufficient evidence to convict James Austin, Jr. of stalking and criminal trespass. Austin v. State, 335 Ga. App. 521, (2016). Austin and the victim were friends but never had an intimate or dating relationship. Their friendship lasted a couple years until Austin began to call the victim and was hostile during the phone class. He would be upset if she hung out with another male friend and would leave angry voicemails. Austin repeatedly went to the victim's home even though she asked him to stop. One incident occurred when a neighbor spotted him outside in front of her windows late at night. Austin admitted that he parked in front of her home for 20-30 minutes at least two times. To be convicted of stalking, there must be a pattern of behavior. The Court found there was sufficient evidence supporting a stalking conviction and a criminal trespass conviction.
In Sanchez v. State, Ricardo Sanchez was convicted of felony murder and reckless conduct. The victim's were gathered a friend's home when they heard tires screeching outside. They exited the home and confronted Sanchez as he got out of his vehicle. The owner of the home demanded Sanchez leave the home and he was escorted back to his vehicle. As the family members were walking back into the house, Sanchez struck one relative, Gerardo, and ran over another one, Juan. Sanchez put his truck in reverse and backed over Juan and then put his truck in drive and ran over Juan a third time. The Court determined there was enough evidence to conclude Sanchez was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of felony member since he ran over Juan three times. The Court also found him guilty of misdemeanor reckless conduct when he hit Gerardo with his truck in conscious disregard that his act would cause harm. Also, his deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person would have exercised in that situation. Therefore, he was convicted of felony murder and reckless conduct. 285 Ga. 749, (2009).
A conviction for crimes against a person generally comes with a prison term and a fine. While each crime and case is different, that is the general outcome. The fine amount varies from case to case.
However, another penalty that could be awarded by the Court is for the defendant to pay restitution to the victim. Restitution is where the defendant reimburses the victim for any expenses that resulted from the crime committed against them. It could include the cost of medical treatment or counseling. Anyone in Georgia that is convicted of assault of battery could be subject to this consequence.
Also, there is a possibility that the court would impose probation instead of jail time for part of the sentence or instead of a jail sentence. This is left to the judge's discretion and is evaluated on a case-by-case basis. If put on probation, the defendant would be required to meet regularly with a probation officer. There would also be conditions they would have to satisfy such as submitting to drug tests, performing community service, attending counseling, etc.
While each crimes has specific defenses that apply to it; there are some defenses that generally apply to crimes against a person in Georgia including:
Consent: If the defendant had consent to do the action they are being accused of, then that is a complete defenses. A crime against a person involves the suspect doing something against another's will but if consent was given by the victim; then no crime has been committed. However, there are a couple crimes that this does not apply to including hazing and trafficking of persons for labor or sexual servitude. They will still be crimes even if permission was given by the victim.
Defense of Others: This argument is similar to regular self-defense with the only difference being that you must honestly believe that another person is in danger of being harmed. The victim must reasonably believe that they are at risk of being injured to satisfy this defense.
Defense of Property: If you used reasonable force when defending your property, such as your home, then you may have an argument that the assault was justified. An example is if someone stole your purse or bag, then you could have the right to use reasonable force to recover that property. There is not a bright line rule on when an owner is allowed to use reasonable force. Instead, the Court rules on a case by case basis.
Innocence: An alibi or witness testimony that you could not have committed the crime is always valuable. It can also be useful if there is a case of mistaken identity.
Lack of Intent: Many crimes against a person require that the defendant have the intent to commit the crime. Evidence that there was no intent will be greatly beneficial to your case and can help your attorney get the charge lowered or possibly dismissed.
Self-Defense: This is a common defenses used in assault and battery cases. However, there are some things that you must show to establish that self-defense was necessary. You must show that (1) there was a threat of unlawful force or harm against you; (2) there was a reasonable basis for your fear of injury to yourself;(3) you did not provoke the threat; and (4) there was no reasonable chance for you to escape or retreat.
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