If someone looks depressed but is not bothering anyone, can you press assault charges against them because you feel threatened by their not ...

Question

If someone looks depressed but is not bothering anyone, can you press assault charges against them because you feel threatened by their not smiling, talking, etc?

Answer

I hope not. The courts would be packed with cases.

Answer

No. As the childhood sing-song said: Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me. Add to that "... but depressed and sad looks will never hurt me." Criminal assault is a lot like that. Bad words or bad looks alone are not enough. It might be uncivil to act that way, but our society doesn't make it "criminal." There has to be (i) an intent to frighten or place a person in fear of immediate unwanted physical contact [a "battery"] ... plus ... (ii) some act in furtherance of that intent ... plus ... (iii) the present ability to do the job. The defendant must intend to injure the victim or make the victim reasonably fear being struck. An assault must be intentional, not an accident. The intent isn't judged on how the victim interprets the look or conduct of the suspect, it's the suspect's subjective intent (which can be proven by piecing together what he does, how he does it, what he says, etc.). Here's an example that distinguishes similar conduct but one might be criminal while the other clearly isn't: someone comes up to you and hits you on your back several times very hard; if it's a friend you haven't seen in years and he's saying at the same moment "Hey, buddy, it's so good to see you!!!" then it's not an assault even though you got hit pretty hard because the assaultive intent is lacking ... but if you get hit just as hard, the same amount of times, in the same location by a stranger right after you got the last Black Friday door-buster video game that the stranger wanted and the stranger was yelling in a loud/mean voice "Hey, buddy, that was MY video game!!", it might well be criminal because there's circumstantial evidence of criminal intent (a desire to injure you or put you in fear of an unwanted, forceful touching / battery). Another example is when boxers or MMA participants square off in the ring/cage and punch/kick each other; there is a clear intent to injure the other person and put him in fear of being slugged, but it's not an assault & battery because they are mutually agreeing to participate in this event, so there is not an "*unwanted* violent touching" involved. The differences between the these various situations make all the difference! This is what cops, prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges and jurors have to do: look at ALL of the circumstances and separate criminal acts from non-criminal acts, look at the crimes' elements (parts), and see if EVERY part is provable beyond a reasonable doubt.