Beaten, Battered, and Bruised: Multiple Assault Offenses or a Continuing Assault Offense?

Imagine a case of domestic violence in which the perpetrator physically and violently assaults a victim. The perpetrator punches the victim with his fist, grabs the victim by the throat and strangles her, and grabs the nearest object and hits her over the head. The victim suffers a broken jaw, black eye, and a concussion and sustains bruising to the neck. Assuming each of these acts occurred within a short and continuous time frame, could the perpetrator be charged with multiple counts of assault or only one? As is the answer to many other legal questions, it depends. Our state courts have been presented with this question for decades: when do multiple physical acts constitute one continuing assault offense and when do they constitute more than one assault offense? Two Tests The basic test is that for multiple acts to constitute separate assaults, there must be a “distinct interruption” in the original assault followed by a second or subsequent assault. State v. Williams, 201 N.C. App. 161, 182 (2009); State v. Littlejohn, 158 N.C. App. 628, 635 (2003). Even when a victim sustains various injuries through several acts of violence, the perpetrator may still be convicted of only one count of assault if there is no distinct interruption in the perpetrator’s actions. Courts also have used a three-factor test. This test was identified in State v. Rambert, 341 N.C. 173 (1995), a case involving discharging a firearm into occupied property. Those factors are 1) whether the acts were the result of [...]