Aggravated Battery on a Pregnant Woman - Florida Statutes 784.045(1)(b)

Are you being charged, in Palm Beach County, Florida, with Aggravated Battery on a Pregnant Woman? We are Aggravated Battery on a Pregnant Woman attorneys located in West Palm Beach. When you are arrested for Aggravated Battery on a Pregnant Woman you want a lawyer that understands and practices in this area of law. Don’t hire a lawyer that dabbles in criminal defense, hire a criminal defense attorney that has extensive experience in Aggravated Battery on a Pregnant Woman cases. Your attorney needs to have knowledge and experience but also needs to know the players. Knowing the players comes from years of being inside the courtroom. Finding the best criminal defense attorney in Palm Beach County, for your case, is difficult. You need to review their educational background, experience in criminal cases, their reputation in the community, and their ability to communicate with you, the client. The quality of the criminal defense attorney you hire to defend your Aggravated Battery on a Pregnant Woman case is extremely important. We ask that you consider our South Florida Criminal Defense Attorneys.

Battery is committed where a person touches or hits another person against their will. This is sometimes called “simple” battery. Battery can be committed with a fist, but it can also be committed with a baseball bat. The more life-threatening baseball bat turns the simple battery into an aggravated battery. Another form aggravated battery is where the defendant commits a battery on a pregnant woman when the defendant knows or should have known the victim was pregnant. The crime of battery is taken to the “next level” because of the status of the victim, not the injury. The victim does not have to be injured but just simply touched.

An individual may be charged with just a simple battery against a pregnant woman by the arresting police officer. As the state prosecutor starts talking to the victims, more facts might come out that allow the prosecutor to “up-file” the simple battery charge into an aggravated battery charge. The state prosecutor is not required to charge the defendant with the most serious charge possible. On the flip side, a person charged with aggravated battery on a pregnant person can have their charge “down-filed” to the less serious charge of simple battery. Sometimes the police did not have the facts correct and misidentified the victim as pregnant. One of our attorneys can inform the prosecutor and ask that you be correctly charged.

For a defendant to be convicted of aggravated battery on a pregnant woman under Florida Statute 784.045, the prosecutor must prove:

1. The defendant intentionally touched/ hit the victim against her will or the defendant caused bodily harm;
2. The victim was pregnant at the time of the battery; and
3. The defendant knew the victim was pregnant or should have known at the time of the battery that the victim was pregnant.

The state prosecutor is going to be choosing what charges are going to be filed against you. The facts surrounding the case determine what types of defenses are used. There are some defenses that are available to an aggravated battery charge. One defense is that the defendant did not know that the victim was pregnant because of clothing or she was early in the pregnancy.

Aggravated battery on a pregnant woman is a serious charge and is a second-degree felony which has a maximum punishment of 15 year in prison and a $10,000 fine. Simple battery is punished by a maximum of 1 year in jail and a $1,000 fine. It is a serious thing to have a simple battery charge changed into aggravated battery charge. This crime is ranked as a level 7 under the Florida Criminal Punishment Code.

If you have been arrested and charged with aggravated battery on a pregnant woman in the Palm Beach County or the Broward County area, it is extremely important that you contact a Palm Beach Gardens Aggravated Battery Attorney at our law firm to discuss your defense options. You will want an attorney who can handle your case and aggressively defend you.