Battery & Aggravated Battery Attorney Lake County, Illinois
Are you charged with BATTERY or AGGRAVATED BATTERY in Lake County, Illinois criminal court? If so, a HoffmanLaw Office Lake County criminal defense attorney is here for you. Our office has nearly 20 years' experience with Lake County battery and aggravated battery cases. We know what it takes to mount a successful legal defense to your charges.
The HoffmanLaw Office is lead by a former Criminal Division Lake County Assistant State's Attorney. With many years of Lake County misdemeanor and felony courtroom experience, the HoffmanLaw Office knows the Lake County criminal justice system. It is our mission to defend you against your battery or aggravated battery charges and to seek the best possible outcome of your case.
We invite you to explore the different types of Lake County battery and aggravated battery charges we defend. From a very general perspective, the crime of battery is a misdemeanor offense punishable by time in jail. The crime of aggravated battery is a felony offense punishable by time in prison. The HoffmanLaw Office has the proven skill, experience and dedication necessary to defend you in any type of Lake County battery or aggravated battery case.
Offenses We Discuss on this Page: Battery Aggravated Battery
BATTERY: Criminal Defense Attorney Defending Battery Cases in Waukegan Court
BATTERY: Criminal Defense Attorney Defending Battery Cases in Waukegan Court
The HoffmanLaw Office is here to defend you against misdemeanor battery charges in the Lake County, Illinois criminal court system. Lake County misdemeanor battery cases are assigned to the main Lake County criminal courthouse in downtown Waukegan.
Because a battery charge alleges you committed some level of unlawful harm to another person, the HoffmanLaw Office takes the defense of your misdemeanor battery case very seriously. We understand the potential negative consequences of a battery conviction. A conviction would give you a criminal record, force you to pay fines, or could even lead to jail time. Your HoffmanLaw criminal defense lawyer will fight to defend your rights in Lake County criminal court.
What are the penalties for battery?
Your class A misdemeanor battery charge is punishable by up to a $2,500 fine and up to 364 days in jail.
How is the offense of battery defined?
You can be charged with the misdemeanor offense of battery if allegedly you knowingly without legal justification by any means caused bodily harm to an individual or made physical contact of an insulting or provoking nature with an individual. See, 720 ILCS 5/12-3.
Can my Lake County battery case be charged under a local ordinance?
If you're facing a local ordinance battery charge, it also can allege you caused bodily harm or made physical contact of an insulting or provoking nature. Yet, unlike a misdemeanor allegation, an ordinance violation does not carry a possible jail sentence. Your local ordinance battery charge usually will be assigned to one of the Lake County branch courthouses located in Round Lake Beach, Park City, or Mundelein.
How will the prosecution try to prove my battery case?
If you're charged with battery alleging you inflicted bodily harm, the prosecution most likely will attempt to prove you inflicted an actual physical injury on another person. Oftentimes, the prosecution will attempt to prove the injury occurred by admitting photographs of the alleged injury into evidence at trial.
If, alternatively, your battery charges claim you made physical contact of an insulting or provoking nature, the prosecution will not be required to prove that a physical injury occurred in order to prove those specific allegations. In such a case, the testimony of the alleged victim regarding how the alleged contact purportedly felt will be used by the prosecution to attempt to prove your charges.
Employing Powerful Cross-Examination Against Prosecution Witnesses
Employing Powerful Cross-Examination Against Prosecution Witnesses
Any witness who testifies at trial in the prosecution's case-in-chief is subject to cross-examination by the defense. A skilled criminal defense attorney can conduct cross-examinations that fundamentally alter the outcome of your case.
The HoffmanLaw Office knows how to conduct powerful and destructive cross-examinations of prosecution witnesses and has done so for many years. Additionally, the HoffmanLaw Office has significant experience with both bodily-harm and insulting or provoking contact battery charges in the Lake County, Illinois criminal courts.
Whether you're facing a jailable misdemeanor or non-jailable ordinance-level battery charge, the HoffmanLaw Office is ready and available to discuss your unique circumstances. We're also prepared to devise and implement effective strategies in dealing with the accusations against you in an effort to minimize the negative impact of your case.
Aggravated Battery: A Felony Criminal Defense Attorney Experienced in Lake County Court
Aggravated Battery: An Felony Criminal Defense Attorney Experienced in Lake County Court
If you're facing a Lake County aggravated battery charge, the potential penalties are more severe than those for simple battery.
How does aggravated battery differ from battery?
Unlike battery, which usually is charged as a misdemeanor offense with a possible sentence to the county jail, the charge of aggravated battery is a felony offense with a possible sentence to the Illinois Department of Corrections. For many reasons, an aggravated battery charge is serious.
Can the HoffmanLaw Office help me with my aggravated battery case?
The HoffmanLaw Office has many years of experience with serious criminal charges in Lake County felony court, and with aggravated battery cases in particular. Not only are we experienced in negotiating and plea bargaining in aggravated battery cases, but we also have significant trial experience with aggravated battery charges.
Compared to law firms lacking this experience, we believe this makes a difference in the quality of the defense we'll bring to your Lake County aggravated battery case.
Lake County Aggravated Battery Can be Charged in Different Ways
Lake County Aggravated Battery Can be Charged in Different Ways
The felony offense of aggravated battery involves the commission of the offense of battery when other factors are present. The Illinois aggravated battery law can be divided into seven major categories. These include acts of aggravated battery based on:
- the type and severity of the injury caused;
- the location where the aggravated battery occurred;
- the status of the victim;
- the use of a firearm;
- the use of a weapon or other device;
- an injury caused to a child or person with an intellectual disability; and
- certain other types of conduct. See, 720 ILCS 5/12-3.05.
The HoffmanLaw Office defends all types of Lake County, Illinois aggravated battery charges.
Based on Type of Injury
A common type of aggravated battery charge is based on the alleged infliction of permanent disability or disfigurement. While a misdemeanor charge of battery is based on causing any degree of "bodily harm," if the level of bodily harm inflicted is "great," then the felony of aggravated battery usually will be charged.What constitutes "great bodily harm" is not precisely defined by Illinois law and ultimately is a question to be resolved by a judge or jury at trial. See, People v. Cochran, 178 Ill.App.3d 728, 533 N.E.2d 558 (3rd. Dist., 1989). However, the courts have remarked that "'great bodily harm' is more serious or grave than lacerations, bruises, or abrasions that characterize 'bodily harm.'" See, People v. Costello, 95 Ill.App.3d 680, 420 N.E.2d 592 (1st. Dist., 1981).
Based on Location of Conduct
Another type of aggravated battery charge is based on the location where the alleged battery occurred. In contrast to an aggravated battery charge based on the infliction of "great bodily harm" or "permanent disability or disfigurement," there is no requirement that this type of aggravated battery charge alleges a severe injury. A person may be charged with this location-based aggravated battery offense if it is alleged that the person committed a simple misdemeanor type of battery, but in a protected place.Based on Status of Victim
The charge of aggravated battery also can be based on the status of the alleged victim. Victim status based aggravated battery charges seek to punish more severely simple batteries of protected classes of people, based on their ages, physical characteristics, or occupations. The charge of aggravated battery to a police officer probably is the most commonly alleged aggravated battery offense that is based on the status of the alleged victim. If you are charged with aggravated battery to a police officer, the HoffmanLaw Office has significant experience with this type of case.Based on Discharge of Firearm
An aggravated battery charge also can be based on the alleged use of a firearm. A person who discharges a firearm and causes an injury to another person commits the offense of aggravated battery. Aggravated battery with a firearm carries the most severe potential penalties of all aggravated battery charges. The HoffmanLaw Office has jury trial experience with aggravated battery with a firearm charges.
HoffmanLaw Has Aggravated Battery Trial Experience
HoffmanLaw Has Aggravated Battery Trial Experience
It's important the attorney you select to defend you against aggravated battery charges has actual trial experience with this type of charge. This is because if your case is not resolved by negotiation it will proceed to trial.
At trial, your lawyer will be your last line of defense against a guilty verdict. Your attorney's performance at trial will be crucial to the outcome of your case.
Why choose a HoffmanLaw criminal defense lawyer?
In retaining the HoffmanLaw Office to defend your Lake County aggravated battery case, you'll be aligning yourself with an attorney who has powerful Lake County aggravated battery bench and jury trial experience. This makes a difference.
Your felony charge of aggravated battery can have a serious impact on your future and your freedom. Judges presiding over aggravated battery charges have the power to sentence you to a lengthy term of felony probation or to take away your freedom and sentence you to years in prison.
In an aggravated battery case, Lake County felony prosecutors have the ability and discretion to seek serious penalties against you.
As a result, it's important the lawyer you choose to defend your aggravated battery case has the knowledge and experience necessary to identify the important issues, powerfully question the prosecution's evidence, and stand strong in your defense. The HoffmanLaw Office offers you all of these abilities. We have a proven record of commitment to our clients and achieving exemplary results.
HoffmanLaw
HoffmanLaw(847) 587-5000
HoffmanLaw(847) 587-5000
What is Battery?
What is Battery?
Knowingly without Legal Justification by any Means
Causing Bodily Harm to an Individual or
Making Physical Contact of an Insulting or Provoking Nature with an Individual
Why Choose HoffmanLaw to Defend Your Lake County Illinois Criminal Battery Case?
Why Choose HoffmanLaw to Defend Your Lake County Illinois Criminal Battery Case?
Analysis.
The HoffmanLaw Office always is focused on the presumption of innocence. Building on this presumption, the HoffmanLaw Office performs a systematic and searching ANALYSIS of the facts alleged in your case. This intensive analysis exposes weakness in the prosecution's evidence and develops powerful defense arguments and strategies.
Preparation.
The HoffmanLaw Office strives to know completely the facts and law of your case. In criminal court, good results do not often emerge by chance. They come through intense PREPARATION that lays the groundwork for success. When you select the HoffmanLaw Office as your legal advocate, you team yourself with a philosophy of extreme preparation.
Results.
The HoffmanLaw Office views every time it appears in court with you as an opportunity to achieve RESULTS. Whether it is negotiating during a pretrial conference, cross-examining a witness, or delivering a closing argument at trial, the HoffmanLaw Office strives to be your best advocate at all times.
Facing Lake County Illinois Criminal Battery Charges?
HoffmanLaw offers almost two decades of Lake County Illinois criminal trial experience.HoffmanLawDefending Serious Felony Aggravated Battery Charges in Lake County Illinois Criminal Court
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Defending Juveniles Against Battery Charges at Juvenile Court in Vernon Hills
Defending Juveniles Against Battery Charges at Court in Vernon Hills
The HoffmanLaw Office also defends battery and aggravated battery charges at the Lake County, Illinois juvenile courthouse in Vernon Hills. 
Juvenile court prosecutions are governed by penalties, rules and procedures that often differ greatly from those that apply in adult court, including those discussed on this page.
Attorney Matt Hoffman of the HoffmanLaw Office has many years' experience with Lake County juvenile delinquency proceedings and "Petitions for Adjudication of Wardship." He is a former Lake County Assistant State's Attorney who used to prosecute juvenile cases in Lake County juvenile court. If your child is charged with battery, aggravated battery or other offenses in Lake County juvenile court, the HoffmanLaw Office has the specific experience necessary to work toward an intelligent and effective resolution of the case.
Matt Hoffman is a former recipient of the Lake County, Illinois Juvenile Justice Award.
HoffmanLawLegal Issues Blog
In Battery Cases Contact Must be Insulting to an Ordinary Person
Since it is a jailable offense, a person charged with misdemeanor battery has the right to a trial by a judge or a jury. Anyone so-charged is presumed innocent. The burden of proof is on the prosecution and that burden is beyond a reasonable doubt. The burden of proof never shifts to the defendant, who is presumed innocent unless found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The defendant does not have to prove his or her innocence. Nor can the defendant be forced to testify or to present any evidence at trial.
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In most cases where the prosecution alleges the defendant caused bodily harm, the prosecution also will allege the defendant made physical contact of an insulting or provoking nature. In fact, the same action that is alleged to have led to bodily harm will be stated in the charge that claims physical contact of an insulting or provoking nature.
For this reason, misdemeanor bodily harm battery cases usually contain a minimum of two charges, or two counts. The prosecution may reason that if it fails to prove bodily harm beyond a reasonable doubt, by proving the same underlying conduct it still may be able to prove physical contact of an insulting or provoking nature. This allows the prosecution to attempt to secure a guilty verdict on at least one count.
It is also possible in a misdemeanor battery case that no bodily harm count exists, and that the only charge alleges physical contact of an insulting or provoking nature. That single count, then, would be the only charge on which the defendant would stand trial.
In cases where physical contact of an insulting or provoking nature is charged, the context of the alleged contact is relevant in determining guilt or innocence. It has been held that 'trivial physical contact may constitute a battery if the person who initiated the contact did so in an offensive and insulting manner.' People v. Boyd, No. 1-14-0599, (1st Dist., 2016). In determining whether the conduct alleged really was insulting or provoking in nature, at trial the judge or jury should consider 'the time and place, and the circumstances under which the act was done,' as well as 'the relations between the parties.' Id.
Someone charged with battery . . . may challenge whether the conduct alleged even occurred. This person also may challenge, if the conduct did occur, whether it would have been offensive to an ordinary person . . .
~Attorney Matt Hoffman, the HoffmanLaw Office
The court in Boyd noted that 'a stranger is not to be expected to tolerate liberties which would be allowed by an intimate friend. But unless the defendant has special reason to believe that more or less will be permitted by the individual plaintiff, the test is what would be offensive to an ordinary person not unduly sensitive to personal dignity.' Id.
Someone charged with battery based on physical contact of an insulting or provoking nature, who is presumed innocent of the charge, may challenge whether the conduct alleged even occurred. This person also may challenge, if the conduct did occur, whether it would have been offensive to an ordinary person not unduly sensitive to personal dignity. Such challenges may be made during cross-examination of the prosecution's witnesses, in a motion for a directed verdict of acquittal at the close of the prosecution's case-in-chief, by the defendant's presentation of testimony and evidence, and in closing argument.
In Boyd, the appellate court was asked to review whether the defendant, who was found guilty by the trial court of a misdemeanor insulting or provoking battery, did, indeed, commit the offense of battery by pushing away another person's hand. Specifically, the State claimed the defendant battered a Best Buy loss prevention officer when he pushed away the officer's hand just before the officer tackled him inside a Best Buy store.
In reviewing the evidence presented at trial, the appellate court determined that, 'in response to an intrusive gesture, Boyd, without any excessive force, pushed [the loss prevention officer's] hand away. Because the trivial contact, in this context, would not offend an ordinary and not unduly sensitive person, we find that no rational trier of fact could have found that the State proved all the essential elements of a battery. Accordingly, we reverse the conviction.' Id. As a result, the court threw out the battery conviction.
If you are charged with misdemeanor battery based on insulting or provoking contact, you are charged with a criminal offense. The HoffmanLaw Office has years of experience with Lake County battery cases. The HoffmanLaw Office understands the presumption of innocence and the prosecution's burden of proof. As can be seen in this review of the Boyd case, just because you are charged does not mean you are guilty of an offense. The HoffmanLaw Office, which works only with Lake County criminal, traffic and DUI defendants, is in the business of raising reasonable doubt. We would be happy to discuss your own unique case.
HoffmanLawHere to Defend You Every Step of the Way
Bond Court
In Lake County misdemeanor and felony cases, if you are arrested you might be brought before a judge for a bond hearing. At your bond hearing, the judge will consider the charges, the alleged facts, your criminal history, and other factors. Then the judge will set the conditions of your bond. You might be released on your signature or have to post money before you get out of jail. Your bond hearing can be the first time you appear in front of a judge in your case. The HoffmanLaw Office has nearly two decades of Lake County bond court experience in misdemeanor and felony cases. If you have been or are going to be arrested, the HoffmanLaw Office is ready to get to work quickly as your advocate at this early and important step in your case.
Preliminary Hearing
In a Lake County felony case, you have the right to a preliminary hearing or indictment. At your preliminary hearing, the prosecution will call witnesses to try to prove to a judge that there is probable cause that you committed a felony offense. If the judge finds probable cause, your case will be scheduled for arraignment. If the judge finds no probable cause, your charges will be dismissed. If no preliminary hearing is held, your case can be presented to the Grand Jury for indictment. The HoffmanLaw Office has almost two decades of experience with preliminary hearing and Grand Jury issues in Lake County felony cases. The HoffmanLaw Office knows how to assert your rights during this often technical part of your case.
Arraignment
In Lake County misdemeanor and felony cases, at your arraignment the judge formally will advise you of the charges you are facing and tell you their maximum possible penalties. The judge will order the prosecution and defense to comply with discovery rules. These rules will require the prosecution to turn over copies of police reports and other written evidence. At your arraignment, you will be asked to enter a plea. Almost all arraignments include a plea of "not-guilty." The HoffmanLaw Office has represented clients in many hundreds of Lake County arraignments. This Office knows how to defend and assert your Constitutional rights at this significant step in the court proceedings.
Pretrial Conference
A pretrial conference is a court appearance after arraignment in a Lake County misdemeanor or felony case. At a pretrial conference, the prosecution and defense can work toward reaching an agreed resolution of your criminal charges. The HoffmanLaw Office views pretrial conferences, and every other court appearance in your case, as opportunities to advocate on your behalf. There can be multiple pretrial conferences as your case moves forward. During any pretrial conference, the HoffmanLaw Office is focused on the fact that you are presumed innocent. With this presumption always in mind, this Office has many years of experience in negotiating for positive outcomes in Lake County criminal court.
Motion Practice
The HoffmanLaw Office uses pretrial motions to try to favorably alter the outcome of your criminal case. A carefully written and successfully argued pretrial motion can have a profoundly positive effect on the outcome of your case. This is especially so when, for example, the court rules your confession was involuntary, or rules you were the victim of an unlawful search and seizure, or rules you were inappropriately identified in a police lineup, or even rules your charges are so problematic they must be dismissed. The HoffmanLaw Office works hard to analyze the facts and law of your case in exploring the use of effective pretrial motions.
Trial
At its core, the HoffmanLaw Office is a trial law firm. It is built on almost two decades of Lake County criminal court trial experience. If your charges do not resolve during the pretrial process, your case will go to trial. As your advocate, the HoffmanLaw Office will bring many years of Lake County criminal court trial experience to your defense. Attacking the prosecution's evidence, questioning the opinions of prosecution experts and police, and aggressively cross-examining prosecution witnesses are proven ways of raising reasonable doubt in the rigorous pursuit of a not-guilty verdict. The HoffmanLaw Office never waivers from its pursuit of your success.
HoffmanLaw(847) 587-5000
HoffmanLaw
