Utah Criminal Code 76-5-107

Utah Criminal Code 76-5-107: Threat Of Violence–Penalty

1. A person commits a threat of violence if:
a) the person threatens to commit any offense involving bodily injury, death, or substantial property damage, and acts with intent to place a person in fear of imminent serious bodily injury, substantial bodily injury, or death;  or
b) the person makes a threat, accompanied by a show of immediate force or violence, to do bodily injury to another.
2. A violation of this section is a class B misdemeanor.
3. It is not a defense under this section that the person did not attempt to or was incapable of carrying out the threat.
4. A threat under this section may be express or implied.
5. A person who commits an offense under this section is subject to punishment for that offense, in addition to any other offense committed, including the carrying out of the threatened act.
6. In addition to any other penalty authorized by law, a court shall order any person convicted of any violation of this section to reimburse any federal, state, or local unit of government, or any private business, organization, individual, or entity for all expenses and losses incurred in responding to the violation, unless the court states on the record the reasons why the reimbursement would be inappropriate.

Terms Used In Utah Code 76-5-107

• Act: means a voluntary bodily movement and includes speech.
• Bodily injury: means physical pain, illness, or any impairment of physical condition.
• Misdemeanor: Usually a petty offense, a less serious crime than a felony, punishable by less than a year of confinement.
• Offense: means a violation of any penal statute of this state.
• Person: means an individual, public or private corporation, government, partnership, or unincorporated association.
• Property: includes both real and personal property.
• Serious bodily injury: means bodily injury that creates or causes serious permanent disfigurement, protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ, or creates a substantial risk of death.
• State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes a state, district, or territory of the United States.
• Substantial bodily injury: means bodily injury, not amounting to serious bodily injury, that creates or causes protracted physical pain, temporary disfigurement, or temporary loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ.

When most people think about crime, it’s violent crimes that quickly come to mind. You don’t have to know a lot about the law to know that violent crimes are the most serious criminal offenses possible. These are crimes that involve one person physically harming another, crimes that involve violence or threatened violence, as well as crimes with weapons or actions that endanger someone else’s life or safety.

Felonies or Misdemeanors

Crimes are classified in terms of their severity as either felonies or misdemeanors. Misdemeanors are considered a less serious type of crime and they come with less serious consequences. Felonies are the most significant type of crime, and have more serious penalties associated with them. What differentiates a felony from a misdemeanor depends upon how a law classifies it. Typically, violent crimes fall into the category of felonies, though there are some that may constitute misdemeanors, depending on the circumstances of the case and the details of state law.
Violent Crimes
A violent crime is an offense wherein someone either physically harms someone else or threatens or uses violence while committing a crime. Violent crimes are also sometimes referred to as “offenses against the person” because they involve physical harm to someone else. For example, you can commit the violent crime of battery if you attack someone with your fists. You can also commit a violent crime if you threaten someone with violence in order to steal something from that person, known as robbery. It’s important to note that it isn’t necessary for you to actually engage in violence to be charged with or convicted of a felony violent crime.

Examples – There are a number of felony violent crimes, all of which have different potential penalties. The most common of these are criminal homicides, including murder and manslaughter; robbery, rape or sexual assault, battery and domestic violence, as well as kidnapping or false imprisonment. Some of these crimes can be charged as felonies or misdemeanors, while others, such as murder, are always felony offenses.
Penalties
The law allows for the harshest possible penalties for violent felonies. A wide range of penalties is possible for each particular crime, and sentences differ widely depending on the circumstances of each case.
• Death: The death penalty, or capital punishment, is the most severe penalty possible and is imposed only against those convicted of murder, the most serious of violent felonies. (However, federal law also allows for the death penalty for treason crimes.) While not all states allow for capital punishment, those that do allow for it only in cases of murder.

• Prison: Incarceration is a common penalty for those convicted of a violent felony. Felony offenses always have a potential prison sentence of a year or more in jail. Depending on the particular crime involved, a conviction for violent felony could result in a sentence of years, decades, or even life in prison.
• Fines: Violent felonies also come with significant fines, though these too will differ depending on the circumstances of the case. A fine for a single conviction could be as much as $50,000, though much larger amounts are also possible.
• Restitution: A person convicted of a violent felony can also be required to pay restitution in addition to any fines. Restitution is paid to a victim to compensate that person for any medical expenses or other costs involved. Court costs or costs of prosecution can also be made a part of a restitution order.
• Probation: Some people convicted of a violent felony can be sentenced to probation in addition to, or instead of, fines or prison time. Probation usually lasts at least a year or longer, and during that time the person on probation must be sure to regularly report to a probation officer, stay out of trouble with the law, pay all fines and restitution, and meet any other conditions the court imposes.
Domestic Violence Laws and Penalties
Domestic violence is a violent act committed against a person in a domestic relationship whom the law protects from assault, such as a spouse, a relative, or a dating or sexual partner. Domestic violence is a violent act committed against a person in a domestic relationship whom the law protects from assault, such as a spouse, a relative, or a dating or sexual partner. Some states also classify threats to commit violent acts against protected persons as domestic violence. Federal laws also make criminal certain acts that involve violence committed among persons in intimate relationships. In addition to criminal penalties, incidents of domestic violence can serve as grounds for court-issued protective orders that affect contact with the victim and child custody.
Protected Persons
Domestic violence laws typically apply to victims who are residing with the aggressor at the time of the offense, such as spouses, children, and persons in intimate relationships. But the definition of protected parties is not limited to persons currently sharing a home with the aggressor. Because violence can occur following the end of a relationship, state domestic violence laws also apply to former spouses and persons no longer in an intimate or dating relationship with the offender. In many jurisdictions, it is not necessary for the offender and the victim to ever have resided together in order for the crime to qualify as domestic violence. In Utah, for example, violence committed between persons who are parents of the same child constitutes domestic violence regardless of whether the parents have ever lived in the same home. Other states broadly define the class of persons protected by domestic violence laws to include persons related by blood, marriage, or adoption.
Prohibited Acts: Threats as Well as Physical Violence
Some states prohibit not only acts that involve physical violence, but also threats of violence. Utah, for example, includes within its definition of domestic violence instances where a defendant causes a victim to reasonably fear receiving a physical injury, even where no injury follows. In Utah, defendants may be convicted under such circumstances even when they act without intending to cause such fear, if they are found to have acted recklessly (with extreme disregard for the probable consequences of their acts). Delaware’s definition of domestic violence also includes instances where a person conveys to the victim a threat to harm a third person, such as the victim’s child.

Domestic Violence in the Presence of a Child

In some states, people may be charged with an additional offense (besides the underlying violent act) where a child witnesses the commission of the act. In Utah, for example, a defendant is guilty of child abuse where a child is present during the defendant’s infliction of serious bodily injury against a person with whom the defendant cohabitates. Some states have created separate statutes that specifically apply to acts of violence committed among persons in domestic relationships, while other states treat domestic violence as an aggravating factor that triggers increased penalties for defendants convicted of the underlying violent act (for example, battery).
Two Convictions, Choice of Sentences
In Utah, for instance, a person who commits the offense of aggravated stalking against his former wife also commits the offense of domestic violence in the first degree, a Class A felony punishable by up to 99 years or life in prison. A defendant convicted of both the underlying offense and the family violence offense can be sentenced for only one of the offenses.
One Conviction, Added Penalties
Other states do not create separate offenses for domestic violence crimes. Instead, they impose greater penalties for a violent offense when it is committed between persons in domestic relationships. In Utah, for example, a person who commits an offense that involves the intentional infliction of physical injury must serve a minimum of five days in the county jail if the victim is a family or household member. The same offense committed against a victim who is not a family or household member does not require mandatory jail time.
Court-Ordered Treatment Programs
In some states, convictions for violent offenses that involve domestic violence do not necessarily trigger increased prison sentences or fines. Instead, judges may be required to impose sentencing conditions specific to domestic violence convictions, in addition to the range of penalties authorized for the underlying violent offense. In Utah, for example, a person who commits first-degree assault against a stranger is subject to the same potential prison sentence as a person who commits first-degree assault against his or her spouse. But defendants who commit the violent offense against their spouses (or any other person who falls within Utah’s definition of “intimate relationship”) will be required to complete a domestic violence treatment program and undergo a treatment evaluation.
Immigration Consequences
Committing a domestic violence offense can also affect the defendant’s immigration status. Federal law provides that an alien (someone who is not a United States citizen or national) who is convicted of a domestic violence offense may be deported. An alien who violates a domestic violence protective order is also deportable.
Domestic Violence Protective Orders
Victims of domestic violence and those who fear becoming the victim of domestic violence may ask a judge for a protective order. Protective orders typically prohibit the respondent (that is, the person whom the victim seeks protection from) from contacting or being in close physical proximity to the petitioner (the person seeking the protective order). Orders may also require the respondent to vacate the family home and surrender shared property, such as vehicles. Some states, also authorize courts to award temporary child custody and order financial support when granting protective orders.
Temporary Protective Orders
Protective orders may also be issued in emergency situations. A judge may issue a protective order without the respondent being notified or present at the first hearing. Emergency protective orders are temporary, usually remaining in effect for only a matter of days. A temporary protective order can be converted to a long-term order after a judge conducts a hearing where the respondent is notified and given the opportunity to respond to the allegations in the petition.
Violating a Protective Order
Intentional violations of protective orders are punished as criminal acts by many states. This means that a violator who does not abide by a protective order’s terms may face new criminal charges in addition to any charges resulting from the violence that motivated the victim to first seek the protective order. Conversely, for lack of evidence or a number of other reasons, an offender may not face charges for committing domestic violence but may face a charge for violating a protective order.
Other Kinds of Restraining Orders for Violence Victims
Whether or not you can get a domestic violence protective order, you may be able to obtain another kind of restraining order to seek protection from someone who poses a risk of danger. In some states, for example, an anti-harassment protection order or extreme risk protection order (or other type of “red flag” order aimed at disarming individuals at risk of gun violence) may be relevant to your situation.
Threats and violence
The risk of being subjected to threats and/or violence at the workplace can arise within most sectors or occupations and is a serious work environment problem.
Avoid risky situations by working preventively
By improving security in the venues at the workplace and introducing well thought-out procedures, many threatening and violent situations can be avoided. With good preventive work it is also possible to create a workplace where the staff can feel safe, even in operations where the risk of being subjected to threats and violence at work is palpable.
Primary risks of threats and violence
The type of threat or violence you could be affected by has to do with which occupation you have or in which sector you work, as well as your working tasks. Here we describe some different working tasks and work environments that can entail a risk of threats and violence.
Handling money or goods
Handling money or other valuable objects at work significantly increases the risk of being affected by robbery. The use of weapons has become more common in these contexts. The staff groups who are especially vulnerable are those who work within commerce and banks, security guards, bus and train staff, cashiers, and all staff who handle cash in some way.
Other factors that influence the risk of threats and violence occurring
Besides the working tasks, specific factors at the workplace can further increase the risk of being subjected to threats and violence, for example:
• evening or night work
• working alone
• lack of knowledge or experience both within the professional area and about reception and conflicts
• stress, lack of time, too high a workload
• areas or places of high criminality.

Being charged with a violent felony is always a serious situation. State laws are particularly strict when it comes to violent crime. Your life can be permanently changed even if you are only investigated for one of these crimes and never charged or convicted. You need to seek out an experienced criminal defense attorney in your area immediately upon learning that you are being investigated for or have been charged with any violent offense. Even speaking to the police without the presence of an attorney can seriously damage your case and permanently change the course of your life. Local attorneys will be able to guide you through the criminal justice process because they are experienced with the laws, judges, prosecutors, and police in your area.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

When you need legal help for criminal defense in Utah, please call Ascent Law LLC for your free consultation (801) 676-5506. We want to help you.

Michael Anderson

People who want a lot of Bull go to a Butcher. People who want results navigating a complex legal field go to a Lawyer that they can trust. That’s where I come in. I am Michael Anderson, an Attorney in the Salt Lake area focusing on the needs of the Average Joe wanting a better life for him and his family. I’m the Lawyer you can trust. I grew up in Utah and love it here. I am a Father to three, a Husband to one, and an Entrepreneur. I understand the feelings of joy each of those roles bring, and I understand the feeling of disappointment, fear, and regret when things go wrong. I attended the University of Utah where I received a B.A. degree in 2010 and a J.D. in 2014. I have focused my practice in Wills, Trusts, Real Estate, and Business Law. I love the thrill of helping clients secure their future, leaving a real legacy to their children. Unfortunately when problems arise with families. I also practice Family Law, with a focus on keeping relationships between the soon to be Ex’s civil for the benefit of their children and allowing both to walk away quickly with their heads held high. Before you worry too much about losing everything that you have worked for, before you permit yourself to be bullied by your soon to be ex, before you shed one more tear in silence, call me. I’m the Lawyer you can trust.

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