Common Domestic Assault Charges in Virginia Beach

Below are commonly asked questions on domestic assault in Virginia Beach. For more information or to discuss the specifics of your case contact a Virginia Beach domestic violence lawyer today.

Common Places Assault Charges Take Place

The most common type of assault local law enforcement and lawyers see is domestic assault which commonly takes place in the defendants own home.

This is the case because law enforcement officers are most often called to these types of assault cases. Many times a threat made in these types of altercations is to call the police on the other party to get them in trouble. Or if the situation involves any yelling or is particularly loud, neighbors become concerned and call the police to investigate. Random assault cases between strangers or in a public place tend to break up faster with each party leaving the scene, which means that the police don’t have as much time to respond, and most people aren’t calling it in from the streets.

Situations Where Individuals Are Wrongfully Charged

Wrongful charges is a very common situation that happens particularly in domestic violence assault cases. Often times what happens is that someone is charged with assault against a family member, and then they turn around and file assault charges against the family member they were accused of assaulting. This sort of retaliation actually happens a lot when someone is charged with assault, and many times one of the people involved is wrongfully charged. Sometimes both parties were at fault however, which tends to result in a mutual dismissal of the charges. I had an assault case where someone was verbally berating my client, and pulled out a handgun and was making all sorts of belligerent threats. That guy ended up filing charges against my client for assault, even though my client was the one who was actually being assaulted, and there was a witness there to corroborate the story. The case was eventually dismissed, but it caused my poor client quite a bit of stress in the meantime.

Does Threatening to do Any Harm to An Individual Constitute An Assault?

It depends. It has to be a threat of imminent harm which means the victim must fear that the harm is coming immediately. The victim must also believe that the person doing the threatening actually has the ability to carry out the threat. That means that it is not going to be assault if someone threatens you over the phone. That is a completely different crime though so the individual will not be off the hook.

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