Sometimes, just what you say can lead to an arrest and charges of criminal threats. The California Penal Code outlines what constitutes a criminal threat under PC 422. If you face charges of these threats, you should get legal advice from an Orange County defense attorney with years of work in helping people get appropriate legal defense and guidance through the legal system.
What Are Criminal Threats?
Criminal threats, per Penal Code 422, occur when someone communicates to another a specific threat of injury or death in verbal, written, or electronic communication. The individual threatened must feel fear for themselves or their immediate family due to the threat, whether the defendant intended to follow through or not.
What Are the Punishments for a Conviction of This Crime?
Criminal threats can be either felonies or misdemeanors. The former carries much harsher penalties, including up to three years in state prison, fines up to $10,000, and a strike in the three-strikes law. Misdemeanor charges can result in up to a year in jail and fines up to $1000.
Whether the prosecution charges the threat as a misdemeanor or felony depends on the situation in which the alleged threat occurred and the defendant’s prior criminal history. Cases that involve weapons have a higher chance of felony charges and extra prison time when convicted.
How Criminal Threats Can Tie to Domestic Violence Cases
In many domestic violence cases, a charge of making criminal threats often accompanies domestic battery charges. Often, an argument precedes the accused battery event, and threats could have been made during the argument. If you face both criminal threats and domestic violence charges, you need a defense lawyer with experience in both to help your case. Expert legal help is especially important because a criminal threat may fall under a felony charge. If a court convicts you of this felony charge, it counts as a strike under the three-strikes law.
Get Legal Help for Criminal Threat Charges from the Law Office of Steven K. Bloom
You deserve the best legal defense possible. Don’t rely on the overworked public defender. Instead, hire an attorney who has the time to spend on your case to provide you with expert legal advice. To get legal help for charges of criminal threats or domestic violence, connect with the Law Office of Steven K. Bloom in Orange County. You can get legal help from an experienced California defense attorney when you work with Steven K. Bloom.
Sources
https://skbesq.com/domestic-violence/
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PEN§ionNum=422.
https://skbesq.com/three-strikes-law/
