San Antonio Assault Lawyer: Assault and Aggravated Assault Charges in Bexar County

It starts in a parking lot off Loop 410 a little before two in the morning. Two strangers are arguing over a scraped bumper. One shoves, the other swings, and someone goes down hard on the asphalt. When the patrol cars pull in, there is a folding knife on the ground and two versions of what happened. The man who swung is the one in handcuffs. By morning he is in front of a magistrate on Comal Street, hearing the charge read aloud: aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He wants to know how thirty seconds became a second-degree felony.

Texas assault runs from a fine-only offense to a first-degree felony, and the grade often turns on one fact. Causing bodily injury, which includes physical pain, is a Class A misdemeanor. A threat or an offensive touch is a Class C. Add serious bodily injury or a deadly weapon and the charge becomes aggravated assault, a second-degree felony carrying two to twenty years in prison. Self-defense can make the force lawful. If the other person is family, a household member, or someone the accused has dated, different rules apply; the family violence page covers them.

What the State has to prove in a Texas assault case

Penal Code § 22.01 describes three offenses under one name. The first is causing bodily injury to another intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly. The second is intentionally or knowingly threatening another with imminent bodily injury. The third is intentionally or knowingly making physical contact the accused knows, or should reasonably believe, the other person will regard as offensive or provocative.

The definitions in § 1.07 do much of the work. Bodily injury means physical pain, illness, or any impairment of physical condition; the definition says nothing about a bruise. Serious bodily injury is a different order of harm: injury creating a substantial risk of death, or causing death, serious permanent disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of a bodily member or organ. Whether stitches, a fracture, or a concussion is serious in the statute's sense is a question of fact.

A deadly weapon is a firearm, something made or adapted to kill or seriously injure, or anything that in the manner of its use or intended use is capable of causing death or serious bodily injury.

Aggravated assault under § 22.02 is an assault plus serious bodily injury, or an assault during which the accused used or exhibited a deadly weapon. Exhibiting is enough; nobody has to be cut. The State must still prove every element beyond a reasonable doubt.

Punishment range for assault in Texas

• Threat or offensive contact (Class C): Fine up to $500 (22.01(c); 12.23)
• Bodily injury, or offensive contact with a person 65 or older (Class A): Up to 1 year in jail, fine up to $4,000 (22.01(b), (c)(1); 12.21)
• Bodily injury to an on-duty public servant, security officer, or emergency services worker (third degree): 2 to 10 years, fine up to $10,000 (22.01(b); 12.34)
• Bodily injury to an on-duty peace officer or judge (second degree): 2 to 20 years, fine up to $10,000 (22.01(b-2); 12.33)
• Aggravated assault (second degree): 2 to 20 years, fine up to $10,000 (22.02(b); 12.33)
• Aggravated assault on an on-duty public servant or security officer, in retaliation against a witness, or with a deadly weapon causing serious bodily injury to family, household, or a dating partner (first degree): 5 to 99 years or life, fine up to $10,000 (22.02(b); 12.32)

This list is partial. Officer and guard enhancements require that the accused knew the person's role, which a uniform or badge presumes.

Consequences outside the courtroom

The consequence people least expect is the deadly-weapon finding. When a judgment carries an affirmative finding under Code of Criminal Procedure art. 42A.054 that a deadly weapon was used or exhibited, Government Code § 508.145(d) moves parole eligibility from the general quarter of the sentence, counting good-conduct time, to half the sentence in actual calendar time. On a ten-year sentence, that is five years of actual time, instead of two and a half years counting good-conduct credit under § 508.145(f). Whether a finding will appear in the judgment matters before any plea.

A felony conviction also bars firearm possession under Penal Code § 46.04 until five years after release from prison or supervision, and after that permits it only at home. Federal law, 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), separately bars anyone convicted of a crime punishable by more than a year from possessing a firearm, with no five-year limit and no home exception.

Then there is the record. A misdemeanor assault that ends in deferred adjudication does not get the automatic nondisclosure order of Government Code § 411.072. The person may petition under § 411.0725 two years after discharge, or five years for a felony, and the court must find that sealing serves the interest of justice. A family-violence finding bars nondisclosure entirely under § 411.074. Anyone who is not a United States citizen needs advice about immigration consequences before any plea.

How an assault case moves in Bexar County

After an arrest in San Antonio, bond is set at the Magistrate's Office on Comal Street. The Bexar County District Attorney's Office, not the complaining witness, decides what to file. Misdemeanor assaults are heard in the Bexar County Courts at Law. Felony assaults go to a grand jury, and an indicted case proceeds in a district court. This earlier post on assault charges covers the first days.

What this office looks at in an assault case

A San Antonio assault lawyer opening a new file reads for five things.

The first seconds of the fight. Penal Code § 9.31 allows force a person reasonably believes is immediately necessary against another's unlawful force. A person lawfully present, who did not provoke the encounter and was not engaged in criminal activity, has no duty to retreat. Deadly force is held to the narrower standard of § 9.32.

The injury. Medical records and photographs show whether the State can prove injury at all, and whether it was serious.

The object. If the charge rests on a deadly weapon: what was it, where was it, and who saw it used or exhibited?

The recordings. 911 calls, body-worn camera video, and surveillance footage can tell a different story from the offense report.

Statements and police conduct. What the accused said, and whether any search was lawful, can decide what the jury hears. This post on suppressing statements explains the rules.

Questions people ask about assault in Texas

Is it assault in Texas if I never touched anyone?

It can be. Penal Code § 22.01 makes it assault to intentionally or knowingly threaten another person with imminent bodily injury. Without a weapon, that is a Class C misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $500. If a deadly weapon is used or exhibited during the threat, the same words can support aggravated assault, a second-degree felony.

What counts as a deadly weapon in Texas?

Under Penal Code § 1.07, a firearm is a deadly weapon, as is anything made or adapted to kill or seriously injure. Anything else becomes a deadly weapon if, in the way it was used or intended to be used, it was capable of causing death or serious bodily injury. That is why cars and bottles appear in aggravated assault indictments.

Can I be charged if the other person started the fight?

Yes. Arrest and charge come first; justification is decided later. Penal Code § 9.31 permits force when a person reasonably believes it is immediately necessary to protect against another's unlawful force, though words alone never justify it. When self-defense is submitted to a jury, the jury is instructed that a reasonable doubt on that issue requires a verdict of not guilty.

Does a deadly-weapon finding change how much time is served?

It can. Under Government Code § 508.145(d), a person whose judgment contains a deadly-weapon finding is not parole-eligible until actual calendar time served equals half the sentence or thirty years, whichever is less, and never less than two years. Good-conduct time does not count toward that threshold.

The man from the parking lot

The knife on the asphalt off Loop 410 is now an exhibit, and the felony charge rests on a few facts: whose knife it was, whether anyone saw it in his hand, how badly the other man was hurt, and who shoved first. The State must prove each one, and each can be tested. None of it was clear at two in the morning. To talk about an assault charge in Bexar County, call (210) 201-3096, or send a message through the contact form.

By Christian O. Vega, Attorney at Law

The Law Office of Christian Vega · 130 E Travis St, Suite 425, San Antonio, Texas 78205

Texas State Bar No. 24121180

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