San Antonio Assault & Violent Crimes Attorney

People search for an assault and battery lawyer because most states split the two: battery for physical contact, assault for the threat of it. Texas merged them decades ago. Everything falls under Penal Code § 22.01, and what separates a fine-only citation from a year in county jail is whether the State alleges an injury.

That word does less work than it sounds like it should. Bodily injury in Texas can mean pain and nothing more, with no bruise, no treatment, and no visible mark. That's why a simple shove during an argument can support a Class A misdemeanor.

Two things turn an assault into aggravated assault under § 22.02: serious bodily injury, or the use or exhibition of a deadly weapon. Either one makes it a second-degree felony.

The escalation runs like this:

Both of those aggravating elements are more elastic than they appear, and both are contestable.

Serious bodily injury has a statutory definition: a substantial risk of death, serious permanent disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of a body part or organ. A broken nose treated and released does not automatically qualify. Prosecutors sometimes charge as though it does.

Deadly weapon reaches far past firearms. The statute covers anything that, in the manner of its use, is capable of causing death or serious injury. Prosecutors have applied it to boots, bottles, a length of pipe, and a vehicle. Whether the object in your case actually qualifies is a question worth litigating, because that single word moves a misdemeanor into a felony.

Texas law gives you the right to meet force with force, and that right is broader here than in most states.

Under the Penal Code, you may use force when you reasonably believe it is immediately necessary to protect yourself against someone else's unlawful force. Deadly force becomes justified when you reasonably believe it is necessary to protect against deadly force, or against an aggravated kidnapping, sexual assault, robbery, or aggravated robbery. The same justification extends to defending another person, and to defending your property in defined circumstances.

Texas also imposes no duty to retreat. If you were somewhere you had a right to be, you did not provoke the confrontation, and you were not engaged in criminal activity, you were not required to back away before defending yourself.

Two practical points get lost in the statute. Reasonable belief is judged from your position at the moment, not with the clarity that comes afterward. And once self-defense is raised, the burden shifts back to the State to disprove it beyond a reasonable doubt.

Officers responding to a fight are not deciding who was justified. They are deciding who to arrest. The person who called first, the person with fewer visible injuries, and the person who stayed at the scene all shape that decision more than the law does. The case is about sorting out who the aggressor actually was.

Beyond justification, assault prosecutions rest on foundations that frequently do not hold.

Mutual conflict. Both people participated, both threw a punch, and only one got arrested. Establishing that changes both the charge and the negotiation.

The injury does not match the charge. Medical records, photographs, and treatment notes tell a more precise story than an offense report written from memory. Serious bodily injury allegations often collapse here.

Identification. In a crowded bar, a parking lot at night, or a group altercation, witnesses are confident and wrong more often than juries assume.

Motive to report. Allegations sometimes surface in the middle of a divorce, a custody dispute, or a business falling out. That context is provable with records and messages rather than argument.

Video. Body cam, dashcam, security footage, and phone recordings capture the first minutes before anyone has settled into a version. They routinely contradict the written narrative in helpful ways.

Statements. People explain themselves to officers expecting it to help. Whether those statements were lawfully obtained, and what they actually say once transcribed, both deserve examination.

One finding shapes an entire felony case, and it is decided separately from guilt.

When a court makes an affirmative deadly weapon finding, a judge loses the ability to grant community supervision, and parole eligibility requires serving half the sentence before it can even be considered. A jury can still recommend probation. That single fact drives strategy from the first setting, including whether punishment should be decided by a judge or a jury, and it is a decision we work through with you rather than around you.