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To N. Cal Attorney: I hope you are doing well! I need help

 
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  • Answered by:N Cal Attorney
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To N. Cal Attorney:
I hope you are doing well!

I need help on this question and I need it as soon as possible. By tomorrow morning if you can pretty please? Maybe in about 4 hours so that I can understand it and review it and then see if I need more clarification on it but here is the question:

Has the offense of assault and battery merged into a single offense in the state of Pennsylvania or do they consider them different crimes? Can you also give me the statutory law that talks about this so that I can mention a citation?

I will add an extra bonus if I can get this very quickly.

Thanks so much for your help with this!

Mary G.



Optional Information:
Country relating to Question: United States
State (if USA): Pennsylvania

Submitted: 328 days and 4 hours ago.
Category: Legal
Value: $59
Status: CLOSED

Accepted Answer

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Expert:  N Cal Attorney replied328 days and 3 hours ago.

http://www.paed.uscourts.gov/documents/opinions/98D0490P.pdf
is a 1998 Federal District Court civil judgment that states:

1. Under Pennsylvania law, an assault occurs when one acts
with the unprivileged intent to put another in reasonable and
immediate apprehension of a harmful or offensive conduct and does
in fact cause such apprehension. See Stilley v. University of
Pittsburgh, 968 F. Supp. 252, 259 (W.D.Pa. 1996) (quoting Proudfoot
v. Williams, 803 F. Supp. 1048, 1054 (E.D.Pa. 1992).

2. Likewise, “the elements of the tort of battery are a
harmful or offensive contact with a person, resulting from an act
intended to cause the plaintiff or a third person to suffer such a
contact, or apprehension that such a contact is imminent.” Moser
v. Bascelli, 865 F. Supp. 249, 252 (E.D.Pa. 1994) (quoting Levenson
v. Souser, 557 A.2d 1081, 1088 (Pa. Super. Ct.), appeal denied, 571
A.2d 383 (Pa. 1989)); Herr v. Booten, 580 A.2d 1115, 1117 (Pa.
Super. Ct. 1990).

http://law.onecle.com/pennsylvania/crimes-and-offenses/00.027.001.000.html
has the criminal statute on assault:

§ 2701. Simple assault.
(a) Offense defined.--A person is guilty of assault if he:
(1) attempts to cause or intentionally, knowingly or recklessly causes bodily injury to another;
(2) negligently causes bodily injury to another with a deadly weapon;
(3) attempts by physical menace to put another in fear of imminent serious bodily injury; or
(4) conceals or attempts to conceal a hypodermic needle on his person and intentionally or knowingly penetrates a law enforcement officer or an officer or an employee of a correctional institution, county jail or prison, detention
facility or mental hospital during the course of an arrest or any search of the person.
(b) Grading.--Simple assault is a misdemeanor of the second
degree unless committed:
(1) in a fight or scuffle entered into by mutual
consent, in which case it is a misdemeanor of the third
degree; or
(2) against a child under 12 years of age by an adult 21
years of age or older, in which case it is a misdemeanor of
the first degree.

"Battery" does not seem to appear in the Crimes Code, so it looks like assault and battery have been combined in the above quoted criminal statute, even though they are treated as separate civil torts.

http://pa.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.19790323_0040599.PA.htm/qx
has a discussion of when an offense is merged with another offense, but I do not have much access to PA case law and cannot get the case cited there at 156, which states:
"the misdemeanor of aggravated assault and battery merges with the felony of assault with intent to kill, Commonwealth v. Soudani, 398 Pa. 546, 159 A.2d 687 (1960);"

It seems clear that "assault and battery" were merged in the statute quoted above.

I hope this information is helpful.

Expert TypeAttorney
Category: Legal
Pos. Feedback: 92.8 %
Accepts: 721
Answered: 6/25/2012

Experience: since 1983

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Customer replied327 days and 20 hours ago.

How would I cite this statute of section 2701 if I was referring to it on paper?

Thank you!

Mary

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Expert:  N Cal Attorney replied327 days and 12 hours ago.

Thank you for accepting my answer.

The statute I quoted is cited as 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 2701 or as 18 Pa.C.S. § 2701.

1 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 102 states:
§ 102. Citation of Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes.
The Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes may be cited by title and section number. Without prejudice to any other form of
citation, a citation to any section of this act in the following
form shall, except as provided in section 303 of this title
(relating to cross references between provisions of the
Consolidated Statutes), be adequate for all purposes: "1 Pa.C.S. § 102."
From
http://law.justia.com/codes/pennsylvania/2010/title-1/chapter-1/102/N Cal Attorney41085.9561395833

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Expert:  N Cal Attorney replied326 days and 12 hours ago.

Thank you very much for the bonus!

 
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