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The Colorado Crime Of Second Degree Assault – 18-3-203
To understand the Colorado Criminal Code and more specifically the charge or charges in the Complaint and Information or Grand Jury Indictment against you – you need TWO things.
I. You Will Need To Understand The Actual Statutory Crime With Which You Have Been Charged
– The statute, as of 2016, appears first on this page.
II. You Will Also Need To Understand How The Jury Or Judge Reads The Elements – ( a jury instruction “breakout” of the necessary parts or list of things that makes up the crime)
– The Jury Instructions for most of the main forms of the crimes with which individuals are charged – appears after a reprint of the statute defining the crime.
The Statute: The Colorado Crime of Second Degree Assault – 18-3-203
18-3-203. Assault in the second degree.
(1) A person commits the crime of assault in the second degree if:
…
(b) With intent to cause bodily injury to another person, he or she causes such injury to any
person by means of a deadly weapon; or
(c) With intent to prevent one whom he or she knows, or should know, to be a peace officer,
firefighter, emergency medical care provider, or emergency medical service provider from performing
a lawful duty, he or she intentionally causes bodily injury to any person; or
(c.5) With intent to prevent one whom he or she knows, or should know, to be a peace officer,
firefighter, or emergency medical service provider from performing a lawful duty, he or she
intentionally causes serious bodily injury to any person; or
(d) He recklessly causes serious bodily injury to another person by means of a deadly weapon; or
(e) For a purpose other than lawful medical or therapeutic treatment, he intentionally causes
stupor, unconsciousness, or other physical or mental impairment or injury to another person by
administering to him, without his consent, a drug, substance, or preparation capable of producing
the intended harm; or
(f) While lawfully confined or in custody, he or she knowingly and violently applies physical force
against the person of a peace officer, firefighter, or emergency medical service provider engaged
in the performance of his or her duties, or a judge of a court of competent jurisdiction, or an
officer of said court, or, while lawfully confined or in custody as a result of being charged with
or convicted of a crime or as a result of being charged as a delinquent child or adjudicated as a
delinquent child, he or she knowingly and violently applies physical force against a person
engaged in the performance of his or her duties while employed by or under contract with a
detention facility, as defined in section 18-8-203 (3), or while employed by the division in the
department of human services responsible for youth services and who is a youth services counselor
or is in the youth services worker classification series, and the person committing the offense
knows or reasonably should know that the victim is a peace officer, firefighter, or emergency
medical service provider engaged in the performance of his or her duties, or a judge of a court of
competent jurisdiction, or an officer of said court, or a person engaged in the performance of his
or her duties while employed by or under contract with a detention facility or while employed by
the division in the department of human services responsible for youth services. A sentence imposed
pursuant to this paragraph (f) shall be served in the department of corrections and shall run
consecutively with any sentences being served by the offender;
…
except that, if the offense is committed against a person employed by the division in
the department of human services responsible for youth services, the court may grant probation or
a suspended sentence in whole or in part, and the sentence may run concurrently or consecutively
with any sentences being served. A person who participates in a work release program, a furlough,
or any other similar authorized supervised or unsupervised absence from a detention facility, as
defined in section 18-8-203 (3), and who is required to report back to the detention facility at a
specified time is deemed to be in custody.
(f.5) (I) While lawfully confined in a detention facility within this state, a person with intent
to infect, injure, harm, harass, annoy, threaten, or alarm a person in a detention facility whom
the actor knows or reasonably should know to be an employee of a detention facility, causes such
employee to come into contact with blood, seminal fluid, urine, feces, saliva, mucus, vomit, or any
toxic, caustic, or hazardous material by any means, including but not limited to throwing, tossing,
or expelling such fluid or material.
(II) Repealed.
(III) (A) As used in this paragraph (f.5), “detention facility” means any building, structure,
enclosure, vehicle, institution, or place, whether permanent or temporary, fixed or mobile, where
persons are or may be lawfully held in custody or confinement under the authority of the state of
Colorado or any political subdivision of the state of Colorado.
(B) As used in this paragraph (f.5), “employee of a detention facility” includes employees of the
department of corrections, employees of any agency or person operating a detention facility, law
enforcement personnel, and any other persons who are present in or in the vicinity of a detention
facility and are performing services for a detention facility. “Employee of a detention facility”
does not include a person lawfully confined in a detention facility.
(g) With intent to cause bodily injury to another person, he or she causes serious bodily injury to
that person or another; or
(h) With intent to infect, injure, or harm another person whom the actor knows or reasonably should
know to be engaged in the performance of his or her duties as a peace officer, a firefighter, an
emergency medical care provider, or an emergency medical service provider, he or she causes such
person to come into contact with blood, seminal fluid, urine, feces, saliva, mucus, vomit, or any
toxic, caustic, or hazardous material by any means, including by throwing, tossing, or expelling
such fluid or material.
(2) (a) If assault in the second degree is committed under circumstances where the act causing the
injury is performed upon a sudden heat of passion, caused by a serious and highly provoking act of
the intended victim, affecting the person causing the injury sufficiently to excite an irresistible
passion in a reasonable person, and without an interval between the provocation and the injury
sufficient for the voice of reason and humanity to be heard, it is a class 6 felony.
(b) If assault in the second degree is committed without the circumstances provided in paragraph
(a) of this subsection (2), it is a class 4 felony.
(b.5) Assault in the second degree by any person under subsection (1) of this section without the
circumstances provided in paragraph (a) of this subsection (2) is a class 3 felony if the person
who is assaulted, other than a participant in the crime, suffered serious bodily injury during the
commission or attempted commission of or flight from the commission or attempted commission of
murder, robbery, arson, burglary, escape, kidnapping in the first degree, sexual assault, sexual assault in the first or second degree as such offenses existed prior to July 1, 2000,
or class 3 felony sexual assault on a child.
(c) (I) If a defendant is convicted of assault in the second degree pursuant to paragraph (b),
(c.5), (d), or (g) of subsection (1) of this section or paragraph (b.5) of this subsection (2),
except with respect to sexual assault or sexual assault in the first degree as it existed prior to
July 1, 2000, the court shall sentence the defendant in accordance with the provisions of section
18- 1.3-406. A defendant convicted of assault in the second degree pursuant to paragraph (b.5) of
this subsection (2) with respect to sexual assault or sexual assault in the first degree as it
existed prior to July 1, 2000, shall be sentenced in accordance with section 18-1.3-401 (8) (e) or
(8) (e.5).
(II) If a defendant is convicted of assault in the second degree pursuant to paragraph (c) of
subsection (1) of this section, the court shall sentence the offender in accordance with section
18-1.3-406; except that, notwithstanding the provisions of section 18-1.3-406, the court is not
required to sentence the defendant to the department of corrections for a mandatory term of
incarceration.
(3) (a) The court shall order any adult or juvenile who is bound over for trial for an offense
described in subsection (1) of this section subsequent to a preliminary hearing or after having
waived the right to a preliminary hearing, any person who is indicted for or is convicted of any
such offense, or any person who is determined to have provided blood, seminal fluid, urine, feces,
saliva, mucus, or vomit to a person bound over for trial for, indicted for, or convicted of such an
offense to submit to a medical test for communicable diseases and to supply blood, feces, urine,
saliva, or other bodily fluid required for the test if the person’s blood, seminal fluid, urine,
feces, saliva, mucus, or vomit came into contact with any victim of the assault, peace officer,
firefighter, emergency medical care provider, or emergency medical service provider. Within ten
days after receipt of the medical test results, the defendant shall report the results to the court
or the court’s designee, who shall then disclose the results to any victim, peace officer,
firefighter, emergency medical care provider, or emergency medical service provider who came into
contact with the substance and requests such disclosure. Review and disclosure of medical test
results by the court must be closed and confidential, and any related transaction records are also
closed and confidential. If a person subject to a medical test for communicable diseases pursuant
to this paragraph (a) voluntarily submits to a medical test for communicable diseases, the fact of
such person’s voluntary submission is admissible in mitigation of sentence if the person is
convicted of the charged offense.
(b) In addition to any other penalty provided by law, the court may order any person who is
convicted of the offense described in subsection (1) of this section to meet all or any portion of
the financial obligations of medical tests performed on and treatment prescribed for the victim,
peace officer, firefighter, emergency medical care provider, or emergency medical service provider.
(c) Any person who receives the results of a medical test pursuant to this section shall not
publicly disclose the results.
The Most Common Form Of This Crime – Jury Instruction For This Crime
ASSAULT IN THE SECOND DEGREE (BODILY INJURY WITH A DEADLY WEAPON)
The elements of the crime of assault in the second degree (bodily injury with a deadly weapon) are:
1. That the defendant,
2. in the State of Colorado, at or about the date and place charged,
3. with intent,
4. to cause bodily injury to another person,
5. caused such injury to any person,
6. by means of a deadly weapon.
[7. and that the defendant’s conduct was not legally authorized by the affirmative defense[s] inInstruction[s] .]
ASSAULT IN THE SECOND DEGREE (PEACE OFFICER,
FIREFIGHTER, OR EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICE PROVIDER+ – BODILY INJURY)
The elements of the crime of assault in the second degree (peace officer, firefighter, or emergency
medical service provider+ – bodily injury) are:
1. That the defendant,
2. in the State of Colorado, at or about the date and place charged,
3. with intent,
4. to prevent a person whom he [she] knew, or should have known, to be a peace officer,
firefighter, +emergency medical care provider, or emergency medical service provider from
performing a lawful duty,
5. intentionally,
6. caused bodily injury to any person.
[7. and that the defendant’s conduct was not legally authorized by the affirmative defense[s] inInstruction[s] .]
ASSAULT IN THE SECOND DEGREE (PEACE OFFICER,
FIREFIGHTER, OR EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICE PROVIDER – SERIOUS BODILY INJURY)
The elements of the crime of assault in the second degree (peace officer, firefighter, or emergency
medical service provider – serious bodily injury) are:
1. That the defendant,
2. in the State of Colorado, at or about the date and place charged,
3. with intent,
4. to prevent a person whom he [she] knew, or should have known, to be a peace officer,
firefighter, or emergency medical service provider from performing a lawful duty,
5. intentionally,
6. caused serious bodily injury to any person.
[7. and that the defendant’s conduct was not legally authorized by the affirmative defense[s] inInstruction[s] .]
