Chapter 2 Assault and Battery

• Library: SC Crimes: Elements and Defenses (SCBar) (2021 Ed.)

Chapter 2 Assault and Battery

In 2010, the South Carolina Legislature passed the Omnibus Crime Reduction and Sentencing Reform Act of 2010. Pursuant to section 7 of this Act:

A. Sections 16-3-612, 16-3-620, 16-3-630, and 16-3-635 of the 1976 Code are repealed.
B. The common law offenses of assault and battery with intent to kill, assault with intent to kill, assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, simple assault and battery, assault of a high and aggravated nature, aggravated assault, and simple assault are abolished for offenses occurring on or after the effective date of this act.
C. Wherever in the 1976 Code of Laws reference is made to the common law offense of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, it means assault and battery with intent to kill, as contained in repealed Section 16-3-620, and, except for references in Section 16-1-60 and Section 17-25-45, wherever in the 1976 Code reference is made to assault and battery with intent to kill, it means attempted murder as defined in Section 16-3-29.

2010 Act No. 273, § 7A - C, effective June 2, 2010.

In place of the common law offenses, the statute codifies attempted murder (S.C. Code Ann. § 16-2-29) and four degrees of assault and battery. "The new degrees of assault and battery are, in descending order of severity, assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature (ABHAN), and assault and battery in the first, second, and third degrees." State v. Middleton, 755 S.E.2d 432, 434 (S.C. 2014) (citing the statute).

A. Assault and Battery of a High and Aggravated Nature (ABHAN); S.C. Code Ann. § 16-3-600(B)

Section 16-3-600(B) provides:

(B)(1) A person commits the offense of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature if the person unlawfully injures another person, and:

(a) great bodily injury to another person results; or

(b) the act is accomplished by means likely to produce death or great bodily injury.

(2) A person who violates this subsection is guilty of a felony, and, upon conviction, must be imprisoned for not more than twenty years.
(3) Assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature is a lesser-included offense of attempted murder, as defined in Section 16-3-29.

1. Elements Defined

Under the statute, a person commits ABHAN if he unlawfully injures another and either "great bodily injury to another person results" or "the act is accomplished by means likely to produce death or great bodily injury." § 16-3-600(B)(1)(a) and (b).

"Great bodily injury" is...