Intimidation With A Dangerous Weapon Lawyer in Des Moines
Iowa Code 708.6 concerns Intimidation With a Dangerous Weapon.
Degrees of Intimidation with a Dangerous Weapon in Iowa
Intimidation is a felony in Iowa. Depending on the details, it can be either a Class "D" felony or a Class "C" felony.
The most significant difference between the C felony and the D felony is whether or not you intend to injure someone. Intending to make someone angry or afraid could also make the offense a C felony.
Class D Felony Intimidation
Class D Intimidation is when you do one of these things:
- Shoot
- Throw
- Launch, or
- Discharge
a dangerous weapon at or into one of these things:
- Vehicle
- Airplane
- Railroad Engine
- Railroad Car
- Boat.
The place has to be occupied by other people. In order for it to be intimidation, your act has to make those people reasonably apprehensive of serious injury.
Alternatively, threatening to commit an act of Intimidation With a Dangerous Weapon can be intimidation. In order to be charged with intimidation for making a threat, the threat must have been raised a reasonable expectation that you were actually going to go through with it.
Class C Felony Intimidation
The elements of Class C felony intimidation with a dangerous weapon are the same as the elements of Class D intimidation. The difference is intent. In order to convict you of the C felony, the State must prove that you intended to injure someone. Alternatively, the State can prove that you intended to provoke fear or anger.
Dangerous Weapon
Intimidation necessarily involves a "dangerous weapon." Fortunately, "dangerous weapon" has a legal definition.
A dangerous weapon can be either of two things. Iowa Code 702.7.
First, "instruments or devices" designed to hurt or kill are "dangerous weapons." This means that like guns are per se dangerous weapons. There is an exception for bows and arrows. Bows and arrows used for hunting are not dangerous weapons. If you have a bow for another lawful purpose, it is also not a dangerous weapon.
Alternatively, anything can be a "dangerous weapon." If you use an object in a way that shows that you intend to kill or seriously injure someone, that object can be a "dangerous weapon."
Serious Injury
"Serious injury" also has a statutory definition. Iowa Code 702.18.
For adults, a debilitating mental illness can be a seriously. Alternatively, bodily injuries are serious when they create substantial risk of death, cause serious permanent disfigurement, impair function of any body part, or require surgery involving general anesthesia.
For children under the age of four, "serious injury" also includes skull fractures, rib fractures, and metaphyseal fractures of the long bones.
