People often underestimate the consequences of issuing threats. Most people believe that these statements cannot result in criminal charges. Many assume that, because threats are only words, they would not stand up in court. However, the law may treat some threats as serious, particularly if they suggest harm or intimidation to the victim. If a statement is specific or directed at an individual, law enforcement can pursue charges, which could result in an arrest and prosecution.

You need a strong legal defense to fight criminal threat charges in court. Experienced attorneys will investigate the matter to determine the facts of the case. Moreover, they will contest presumptions made in the case and work to reduce or drop the charges. At Monterey Criminal Attorney, we can help you build a strong defense strategy to challenge criminal threats charges leveled against you.

Criminal Threats Under California Law

If you threaten someone with death or severe bodily harm, you can be charged with criminal threat under California Penal Code 422. You must have made a statement with the intent that the other person understands it as a genuine and immediate threat. Only then will the statement qualify as a criminal threat. You do not have to intend to carry out the threat. However, the law focuses on whether the victim reasonably believed they were in danger. The jury will only convict you for issuing criminal threats if prosecutors prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt.

There are four specific elements the prosecution needs to demonstrate in a criminal threat case, namely:

You Willfully Threatened a Crime that Could Result in Death or Severe Injury

Prosecutors must first prove that you knowingly made a specific threat of committing a violent crime capable of causing death or great bodily harm to another person. This threat could have been spoken, written, or sent electronically via text, email, or social media. This statement is required by law to have been made deliberately, that is, intentionally, not offhandedly or casually.

For instance, if you told someone, “I’m going to knock your teeth off,” this would be a willful threat if the context supposedly meant you were serious about it. In criminal threat cases, it does not matter if you never intended to follow through with the threat. The key issue is that the threat itself implied harm.

What injuries are deemed significant?

Criminal threat charges have strong legal grounding when you threaten to cause serious physical harm to another person because of how credible the threat is. The other consideration is how serious the injury would be, with lasting consequences. The list of injuries also includes those that would:

  • Seriously impact health
  • Require extensive medical care
  • Cause permanent physical limitations

Some of the injuries that meet this threshold include:

  • Bruises that remain visible for over four months
  • Fractured bones
  • Injuries from gunfire
  • Lacerations necessitating significant suturing
  • Second-degree skin burns
  • Bites from dogs
  • Incidents of strangulation resulting in loss of consciousness
  • Severe contusions marked by significant discoloration or swelling
  • Bloodied knees and deep abrasions

You Intended the Threat to Be Taken Seriously

Prosecutors should show the court that you intended the recipient to take your words as a real threat, regardless of your true intentions to act on them. In their submissions, prosecutors will state that you attempted to make the statement appear as a credible warning rather than an empty threat or an exaggeration.

Intent is crucial because it distinguishes a real threat from something said in jest or without seriousness. For example, if you said, “I’m going to make you regret this,” hoping the other person feared for their safety, your statement could qualify as a credible threat. In most cases, the prosecution establishes intent by relying on the context in which the statement was made, witness testimony, and any behavior on your part that supports a motive to intimidate or scare the recipient.

The Threat Was Immediate, Unambiguous and Unconditional

The statement must be immediate, direct, or unequivocal. It cannot be vague or conditional on some future event. It should be a clear, immediate risk. The threat must be specific without any conditions that would soften its meaning.

For example, a simple statement like, 'I'm going to find you tonight and hurt you' would be considered immediate and unequivocal. In contrast, a statement like, “One day you will regret crossing me” seems less immediate or insistent.

The prosecution will examine the words and circumstances and argue that a reasonable person would understand the statement as one that poses an imminent danger. Furthermore, prosecutors will point to your body language or tone to reinforce the immediacy of the threat.

The Threat Caused the Victim to Suffer Reasonable, Sustained Fear

The prosecution must also prove that the person threatened genuinely and sustainedly feared for his/her safety or that of his/her immediate family. The fear must have been more than a brief reaction. It must have lasted and been reasonable, given the circumstances.

The law requires that the fear be what a reasonable person in the victim's position would experience, and it must be proportionate to the threat.

For example, the fear is reasonable and sustained if your statement caused the victim to avoid certain places, change their routines, or have to contact the police. Thus, the impact of your statements can go beyond more than physical harm. Prosecutors could introduce evidence of the recipient’s emotional response from sources such as:

  • Eyewitness accounts
  • Messages expressing genuine fear
  • Documented changes in behavior

Additional Factors that Could Impact a Criminal Threat Case

In criminal threat cases, each element is evaluated based on complex details. The jury may view your statement as part of a pattern of intimidation if you have a history of conflict between you and the alleged victim. In some instances, evidence of prior incidents can enhance the believability of a witness's statement to the jury. Moreover, how you delivered the threat also makes a difference. Even a threat made in person with intimidating gestures or tone could be more serious than a statement online with no immediate context.

The context of the statement also matters. If you made the threat when you argued with the victim, the prosecution could argue that you meant it to sound serious. However, if you said it casually or jokingly, your attorney could argue it was not meant to be taken that seriously.

Furthermore, if there is evidence that the person you conveyed the statements to did not react with genuine fear, for example, by laughing it off or dismissing it, these actions weaken the prosecution’s case that the threat evoked fear.

The Consequences of Criminal Threats

Criminal threats are a wobbler offense. This means it can be charged with either a misdemeanor or a felony. Prosecutors will choose the charges to pursue based on the following:

  • The facts of your case
  • Your criminal history

If convicted of a misdemeanor, you could be:

  • Sentenced to one year in county jail
  • Be required to pay a fine of up to $1,000

However, if prosecutors choose to go for felony charges, the penalties are much harsher. A conviction can result in:

  • A state prison sentence of up to 3 years
  • A maximum fine of $10,000

If the threats are against multiple people, involve numerous threats, or are aimed at different objectives, the prosecution may pursue felony charges with additional penalties. Also, if you used a deadly weapon when issuing the criminal threat, the law allows an extra year to your sentence.

The California "Three Strikes" law also imposes significant consequences for felony convictions, especially for serious or violent offenses. Under this law, repeat offenders will face increasingly harsh consequences.

The standard penalties apply for a first felony strike. However, a second strike doubles the potential prison time. For instance, if you are convicted of a second felony, your maximum sentence would be 6 years for criminal threats.

The situation worsens for third-strike offenders. Criminal threats, along with two other strikes, add up to three strikes, which carry a mandatory sentence of 25 years to life in state prison. This harsh sentence applies even if the third strike is a non-violent crime.

Your prior criminal history determines how the courts will treat criminal threat charges. Prosecutors could pursue maximum sentencing if you have a history of committing violent or serious crimes.

Gang Enhancements for Issuing Criminal Threats

If you make criminal threats for the benefit of a gang, you will receive gang enhancement penalties. The state will look to see if your actions further the gang's interests or align with gang activities. If they find a connection, you will get a much harsher sentence than you would for making criminal threats. You will face a prison sentence of 5 years or life, as provided by Penal Code 186.22(b)(1).

Additional Penalties

Conviction for issuing criminal threats is a serious offense that imposes serious consequences beyond imprisonment and fines. Some include the following:

Mandatory Attendance of Anger Management Classes

In many cases, courts order defendants to attend anger management classes. These programs are designed to help people learn to recognize and control their emotions positively. This is especially the case if the anger triggers your actions.

Completing these classes proves that you have completed rehabilitation and may even be a condition when the judge requires you to remain on probation instead of serving a jail sentence.

Paying Restitution to the Victim(s)

Restitution is a crucial component of sentencing. To meet this requirement, you must compensate the victim for the financial losses they incurred due to your actions. The restitution amount is typically set based on the victim’s financial impact. If you fail to comply with this order, you could face other legal penalties.

However, restitution should not be confused with compensation from civil lawsuits that victims could pursue.

Restraining Orders

A conviction often comes with restraining orders. These legally binding orders prevent you from contacting the victim or coming near their home or workplace. Violating a restraining order can result in:

  • Seizure of your property
  • Further legal proceedings, including potential criminal charges
  • Additional penalties

Loss of Your Professional License

A conviction can have consequences in your professional life. Many occupations, particularly in regulated industries like healthcare, law, and education, require people to be on their highest ethical standards.

A conviction for a crime involving moral turpitude can affect your professional license through suspension or revocation. This situation can hinge on your career advancement, reduce your job opportunities, and cause you to lose income.

Second Amendment Rights’ Restrictions

Gun rights restrictions are also possible with a conviction. If you are convicted of a felony charge, you will lose your right to own firearms. For misdemeanor convictions, you can expect a 10-year restriction on gun ownership. This loss can greatly impact personal safety, self-defense choices, and participation in recreational activities like hunting or shooting sports.

Immigration Consequences

The ramifications can be even more severe for non-citizens. Any criminal conviction may result in immigration-related penalties, including deportation. These consequences complicate residency status, interfere with family reunification, and cause great personal upheaval. For non-citizens charged with a crime, it becomes best to engage both a criminal defense attorney for your criminal case and an immigration attorney to address the potential immigration complexities.

Legal Defenses Used in Criminal Threat Cases

When you use a well-crafted defense strategy, you can effectively challenge criminal threat charges. The success lies in knowing the specific facts and circumstances of your case. Each situation is unique, and the details of the alleged threat significantly influence how effective your defense can be in each situation.

Some of the common defenses attorneys use in criminal threat cases include the following:

The Threat Was Not Immediate

Penal Code 422 mandates that a threat to cause harm or violence must be immediate. Therefore, if you can prove that your statements did not constitute a real or imminent danger, you can effectively challenge the prosecution’s case.

Your attorney will analyze the circumstances of the alleged threat and present evidence to support this argument. For instance, if you made the statements in a joking, light manner, you did not mean for them to be taken seriously. Also, if the threat was stated hypothetically, for example, in a 'what if' scenario, this could lessen the prosecution's claim concerning the credibility and immediacy of the threat.

Your attorney will also assess the victim's perception of the threat. This could help your defense if the individual did not consider your words as immediate or dangerous. You will require witness statements or details of previous interactions as evidence to show that your words were either misinterpreted or misunderstood.

You may also bring to light any mitigating circumstances concerning the incident. If the threat occurred during a heated argument or an emotionally charged moment, you might point to this context in explaining an exaggerated belief that the threat was justifiable. You can also further present your character and history. Showing that you have no history of violent or threatening behavior shows that your words were not serious.

Your lawyer will reference legal precedent where similar threats have been judged not immediate enough to make charges stick. They will also show how your situation aligns with established legal standards.

You Did Not Communicate The Threat

You can challenge criminal threat charges by asserting that you never communicated the threat and, therefore, did not pose a threat to the alleged victim. The law requires that the threat be made directly or indirectly to the person it is claimed to have targeted. Without this communication, the prosecution’s case falls short of meeting the burden of proof.

For example, if you made a private statement or were never meant to be heard by the person you are accused of threatening, then your statements do not meet the criminal threat criteria. In this scenario, if your attorney gathers witness testimonies or communication records, he/she can show that your words were never conveyed. This is especially the case if the statement was misinterpreted by a third party or passed along inaccurately, distorting its original meaning or intent.

Moreover, if someone else heard your statement, it is not a criminal threat unless you intended for the alleged victim to listen to it and feel threatened. Your attorney could emphasize the lack of intent to communicate a threat. He/she could argue that there was no expectation or likelihood your words would reach the alleged victim.

The Threat Was Vague

A viable defense in criminal threat cases is arguing that the threat was vague. PC 422 requires that the threat to the alleged victim be genuine and immediate. The statement fails to meet this legal standard if it is vague or imprecise.

For example, "You will regret this" does not offer direct language indicating imminent harm but can sound aggressive. This statement can be interpreted in so many ways that it is easy to doubt whether it was meant as a real threat. The statement may lack immediacy initially because it lacks clear terms of harm and a defined timeline. That lack of specificity, however, could have the court wondering whether a reasonable person in a similar situation would consider themselves in danger upon receiving the statements. This reasonable doubt means the prosecution would not have met their burden of proof.

Also, ambiguous or conditional language could weaken the prosecution’s case. Thus, if the threat is something like, "If you keep doing this, something will happen," it shows a potential threat rather than an immediate one. The conditional wording makes it hard for the prosecution to prove the threat was credible and imminent.

The law also looks to see if the person who made the threat gave the alleged victim immediate, reasonable fear. If your words provide room for interpretation or appear to show a lack of harsh intent, it becomes more difficult to say that the statement caused fear of imminent peril. Any statement that is ambiguous enough can likely have the case thrown out either because:

  • It did not rise to the level of threatening crime
  • The First Amendment protects it

First Amendment Protections

You can assert that your speech is protected by First Amendment protections for a wide range of expressions. This right covers various types of speech but not all utterances, including those deemed criminal threats. To use this defense, you have to show that your words:

  • Were not harmful otherwise
  • Did not constitute an imminent threat
  • Were sufficiently vague

You also have to show that a reasonable person would not, if informed of your statements, have believed them to be credible threats or that you had no intention of instilling fear or intimidation. This defense depends on the context and meaning of your remarks. You must explain whether your statements constitute protected speech or they will be interpreted as criminal.

Contact a Criminal Defense Attorney Near Me

Issuing a threat could seem like a minor thing to do. However, California law views criminal threats as serious offenses with serious consequences. A verbal or written threat to cause harm can result in criminal charges under Penal Code 422. In addition to fines and prison terms, a conviction could have long-term effects on your career, reputation, and relationships.

Knowing your legal options is in your best interest if you are accused of making a criminal threat. An excellent criminal defense attorney will help you with this. He/she will look at the details of your case, the context, intent, and actual impact on the alleged victim. The outcome of your case can be influenced by many things, from whether the threat was specific or vague to whether the threat caused fear. This will help him/her develop the ideal defense strategy.

With the Monterey Criminal Attorney on your side, you access experienced lawyers who can effectively challenge the charges. Do not let a simple emotional reaction affect your future. If you face criminal threat charges, call us at 831-574-1791 and let us build a strong defense.