Assault Defense Attorney in Gillette, Wyoming

Most people arrested in Campbell County for what they call assault are actually charged with battery, unlawful contact, or something more serious. The label on the citation matters because each one carries a different penalty and a different set of defenses. Just Criminal Law defends people facing assault and battery charges in Gillette and across Campbell County. Our founder, Christina L. Williams, has charged these cases on behalf of the State before beginning to defend them.

Assault, Battery, and Unlawful Contact Are Three Different Crimes

People say “assault and battery” as if it were one offense, but Wyoming law doesn’t. W.S. 6-2-501 creates three separate misdemeanors, and what you’re facing depends on which one you face.

• Simple assault (subsection a) is an unlawful attempt to cause bodily injury when you have the present ability to do so. Nobody needs to be touched. A fine of up to $750 is possible. No jail time.
• Battery (subsection b) actually causes bodily injury through physical force. It can lead to up to six months in jail, which is the charge that most people mean when they say they have been arrested for assault.
• Unlawful contact (subsection g) covers touching someone in a rude, insolent, or angry way without enough force to injure. It is still a misdemeanor and can still result in up to six months imprisonment.

Prosecutors sometimes charge high and settle for less. That’s normal. The first charge is not always the final version.

What Turns a Misdemeanor Fight Into a Felony

The jump from battery to aggravated assault and battery is a significant step. Under W.S. 6-2-502, a fight can become a felony with a potential sentence of up to ten years if any of the following circumstances are present:

• Serious bodily injury was caused or attempted, under circumstances that show extreme indifference towards the value of human life.
• Bodily injury was caused with a deadly weapon, or there was an attempt to do so.
• There was a threat to use a drawn weapon, unless it was reasonably necessary for self-defense.
• The accused knew that the victim was pregnant and caused bodily injury.

“Serious bodily injury” is a legal threshold, not a description

W.S. 6-1-104 defines it as injury causing a substantial risk of death or severe protracted pain, serious disfigurement or unconsciousness. Stitches and black eyes may not be enough. Whether an injury meets that bar is a matter of fact, and one of the best ways to challenge a felony charge is to prove it.

A “deadly weapon” is broader than you think

The same statute defines it as anything that, in the way it is used, is reasonably capable of causing death or serious bodily injury. A beer bottle qualifies. So does a pool cue, a boot, or a pick-up. In a bar situation, the object in someone’s hand is often the only thing separating six months from ten years.

Strangulation is its own felony

Wyoming has removed strangulation of a family member from the assault laws entirely. W.S. 6-2-509 is a standalone felony with up to ten years of imprisonment, and an attempt to impede breathing or blood flow is sufficient. Visible marks are not required. This is why domestic incidents here are charged more severely than people expect.

Bar Fights, Shift Work, and the Campbell County Docket

Gillette runs on energy, and energy runs on long shifts. A lot of assault cases start the same way here: two people were fined an hour earlier at a bar or job site, but then something happened to change their story depending on who was telling it.

Wyoming has no statewide predominant aggression statute. When officers arrive and both parties have marks on them, both can be arrested and often are. Each case is then prosecuted separately based on its own evidence. This is where things often go wrong.

• Who threw the first punch is a question that can be answered. Witnesses, injuries, and camera angles often provide the answer.
• Body camera footage and 911 recordings are made before anyone has time to shape a story.
• Bar and worksite videos often get overwritten within days, but this is more important than people realize.
• The person who calls 911 is not always the victim.

Where Your Case Will Be Heard in Campbell County

Misdemeanor cases start in Campbell County Circuit Court and go through to the end. Felonies start there too, with an initial appearance, a bond decision, and a preliminary hearing, where the state must prove probable cause. If the judge agrees, the case goes to the Sixth Judicial District Court.

Bond conditions almost always include a no-contact order. Violating it is a separate charge, even if the underlying case later falls apart. “Contact” is read broadly, and a message passed through a friend counts.

What a Former Prosecutor Brings to an Assault Defense

When she worked for the state, Christina Williams was the one who decided which assault cases to charge as felonies and which to leave as misdemeanors. She knows what prosecutors are looking for and when a felony charge is more aggressive than the facts justify. We use that to push back early before the charge calcifies into something harder to reverse.

Sometimes that means showing the prosecutor that the injury doesn’t meet the “serious bodily injury” definition required by the statute. Sometimes it means raising self-defense with the evidence to back it. We can’t guarantee an outcome. We can make sure the State’s version isn’t the only one in the room.

Why Clients in Cheyenne Choose Just Criminal Law

• A prosecutor’s read on violent-crime cases: Christina L. Williams charged and tried these cases for the State.
• Self-defense done right: We know how Wyoming’s self-defense and Stand Your Ground law applies to a real Gillette case.
• 25+ years in Wyoming courts: Our team has handled more than 10,000 criminal matters since 2009, across Wyoming and South Dakota.