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    This web page contains the elements of the Colorado Crimes of Felony Assault.

    These are only the basic elements of these crimes – to fully understand a crime with which you are charged you will need a much greater understanding of Colorado Criminal Law.

    This web site is designed to empower criminal defendants by helping them understand every phase of the criminal justice process. It also addresses the different types of defenses and strategies that exist in the Colorado Criminal Justice System.

    If you are charged with a crime and seek to understand the new world you have entered – you need to understand that criminal laws and procedures can be so complex that even judges can get them wrong.

    First Degree Assault (18-3-202)

    •(1) A person commits the crime of assault in the first degree if:

    •(a) With intent to cause serious bodily injury to another person, he causes serious bodily injury to any person by means of a deadly weapon; or

    (b) With intent to disfigure another person seriously and permanently, or to destroy, amputate, or disable permanently a member or organ of his body, he causes such an injury to any person; or

    (c) Under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life, he knowingly engages in conduct which creates a grave risk of death to another person, and thereby causes serious bodily injury to any person; or

    (d) Repealed.

    (e) With intent to cause serious bodily injury upon the person of a peace officer or firefighter, he or she threatens with a deadly weapon a peace officer or firefighter engaged in the performance of his or her duties, and the offender knows or reasonably should know that the victim is a peace officer or firefighter acting in the performance of his or her duties; or

    (e.5) With intent to cause serious bodily injury upon the person of a judge of a court of competent jurisdiction or an officer of said court, he threatens with a deadly weapon a judge of a court of competent jurisdiction or an officer of said court, and the offender knows or reasonably should know that the victim is a judge of a court of competent jurisdiction or an officer of said court; or

    (f) While lawfully confined or in custody as a result of being charged with or convicted of a crime or as a result of being charged as a delinquent child or adjudicated as a delinquent child and with intent to cause serious bodily injury to a person employed by or under contract with a detention facility, as defined in section 18-8-203 (3), or to a person employed by the division in the department of human services responsible for youth services and who is a youth services counselor or is in the youth services worker classification series, he or she threatens with a deadly weapon such a person engaged in the performance of his or her duties and the offender knows or reasonably should know that the victim is such a person engaged in the performance of his or her duties while employed by or under contract with a detention facility or while employed by the division in the department of human services responsible for youth services.

    A sentence imposed pursuant to this paragraph (f) shall be served in the department of corrections and shall run consecutively with any sentences being served by the offender. A person who participates in a work release program, a furlough, or any other similar authorized supervised or unsupervised absence from a detention facility, as defined in section 18-8-203 (3), and who is required to report back to the detention facility at a specified time shall be deemed to be in custody.

    (2) (a) If assault in the first degree is committed under circumstances where the act causing the injury is performed upon a sudden heat of passion, caused by a serious and highly provoking act of the intended victim, affecting the person causing the injury sufficiently to excite an irresistible passion in a reasonable person, and without an interval between the provocation and the injury sufficient for the voice of reason and humanity to be heard, it is a class 5 felony.

    (b) If assault in the first degree is committed without the circumstances provided in paragraph (a) of this subsection

    (2), it is a class 3 felony.

    (c) If a defendant is convicted of assault in the first degree pursuant to subsection (1) of this section, the court shall sentence the defendant in accordance with the provisions of section 18-1.3-406.

    Second Degree Assault  (18-3-203)

    (1) A person  commits the crime of assault in the second degree if:

    •(b) With intent  to cause bodily injury to another person, he or she causes such injury to any  person by means of a deadly weapon; or

    (c) With intent  to prevent one whom he or she knows, or should know, to be a peace officer or  firefighter from performing a lawful duty, he or she intentionally causes  bodily injury to any person; or

    (d) He recklessly  causes serious bodily injury to another person by means of a deadly weapon; or

    (e) For a purpose  other than lawful medical or therapeutic treatment, he intentionally causes  stupor, unconsciousness, or other physical or mental impairment or injury to  another person by administering to him, without his consent, a drug, substance,  or preparation capable of producing the intended harm; or

    (f) While  lawfully confined or in custody, he or she knowingly and violently applies  physical force against the person of a peace officer or firefighter engaged in  the performance of his or her duties, or a judge of a court of competent  jurisdiction, or an officer of said court, or, while lawfully confined or in  custody as a result of being charged with or convicted of a crime or as a  result of being charged as a delinquent child or adjudicated as a delinquent  child, he or she knowingly and violently applies physical force against a  person engaged in the performance of his or her duties while employed by or  under contract with a detention facility, as defined in section 18-8-203 (3), or while employed by the  division in the department of human services responsible for youth services and  who is a youth services counselor or is in the youth services worker  classification series, and the person committing the offense knows or  reasonably should know that the victim is a peace officer or firefighter  engaged in the performance of his or her duties, or a judge of a court of  competent jurisdiction, or an officer of said court, or a person engaged in the  performance of his or her duties while employed by or under contract with a  detention facility or while employed by the division in the department of human  services responsible for youth services.

    A sentence imposed pursuant to this  paragraph (f) shall be served in the department of corrections and shall run  consecutively with any sentences being served by the offender; except that, if  the offense is committed against a person employed by the division in the  department of human services responsible for youth services, the court may  grant probation or a suspended sentence in whole or in part, and such sentence  may run concurrently or consecutively with any sentences being served. A person  who participates in a work release program, a furlough, or any other similar  authorized supervised or unsupervised absence from a detention facility, as  defined in section 18-8-203 (3), and who is required to report  back to the detention facility at a specified time shall be deemed to be in  custody.

    (f.5) (I) While  lawfully confined in a detention facility within this state, a person with  intent to infect, injure, harm, harass, annoy, threaten, or alarm a person in a  detention facility whom the actor knows or reasonably should know to be an  employee of a detention facility, causes such employee to come into contact  with blood, seminal fluid, urine, feces, saliva, mucus, vomit, or any toxic,  caustic, or hazardous material by any means, including but not limited to  throwing, tossing, or expelling such fluid or material.

    (II) (A) Any  adult or juvenile who is bound over for trial for the offense described in  subparagraph (I) of this paragraph (f.5) subsequent to a preliminary hearing or  after having waived the right to a preliminary hearing, any person who is  indicted for or is convicted of any such offense, or any person who is  determined to have provided blood, seminal fluid, urine, feces, saliva, mucus,  or vomit to a person bound over for trial for, indicted for, or convicted of  such an offense shall be ordered by the court to submit to a medical test for  communicable diseases and to supply blood, feces, urine, saliva, or other  bodily fluid required for the test. The results of such test shall be reported  to the court or the court’s designee, who shall then disclose the results to  any victim of the offense who requests such disclosure. Review and disclosure  of medical test results by the court shall be closed and confidential, and any  transaction records relating thereto shall also be closed and confidential. If  a person subject to a medical test for communicable diseases pursuant this  sub-subparagraph (A) voluntarily submits to a medical test for communicable  diseases, the fact of such person’s voluntary submission shall be admissible in  mitigation of sentence if the person is convicted of the charged offense.

    (B) In addition  to any other penalty provided by law, the court may order any person who is  convicted of the offense described in subparagraph (I) of this paragraph (f.5)  to meet all or any portion of the financial obligations of medical tests  performed on and treatment prescribed for the victim or victims of the offense.

    (C) At the time  of sentencing, the court may order that an offender described in  sub-subparagraph (B) of this subparagraph (II) be put on a period of probation  for the purpose of paying the testing and treatment costs of the victim or  victims; except that the period of probation, when added to any time served,  shall not exceed the maximum sentence that can be imposed for the offense.

    (III) (A) As used  in this paragraph (f.5), “detention facility” means any building,  structure, enclosure, vehicle, institution, or place, whether permanent or  temporary, fixed or mobile, where persons are or may be lawfully held in  custody or confinement under the authority of the state of Colorado or any  political subdivision of the state of Colorado.

    (B) As used in  this paragraph (f.5), “employee of a detention facility” includes  employees of the department of corrections, employees of any agency or person  operating a detention facility, law enforcement personnel, and any other  persons who are present in or in the vicinity of a detention facility and are  performing services for a detention facility. “Employee of a detention  facility” does not include a person lawfully confined in a detention  facility.

    (g) With intent  to cause bodily injury to another person, he causes serious bodily injury to  that person or another.

    (2)  (a) If assault in the second degree is committed under circumstances where the  act causing the injury is performed upon a sudden heat of passion, caused by a  serious and highly provoking act of the intended victim, affecting the person  causing the injury sufficiently to excite an irresistible passion in a  reasonable person, and without an interval between the provocation and the  injury sufficient for the voice of reason and humanity to be heard, it is a  class 6 felony.


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    ___________________________
    H. Michael Steinberg Esq.
    Attorney and Counselor at Law
    The Colorado Criminal Defense Law Firm of H. Michael Steinberg
    A Denver, Colorado Lawyer Focused Exclusively On
    Colorado Criminal Law For Over 40 Years.
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