Q: What kind of proof does the court need to charge someone with assault aside from hearsay?

A: Usually, as in your case, they need the victim of the assault testifying as to what happened.

A victim’s testimony about an assault she personally experienced isn’t hearsay and can be sufficient standing alone to support a conviction if the jury believes the victim.

It can be helpful to also have the testimony of a witness to the assault describing what the witness personally saw and heard at the time of the assault. But, sometimes, there aren’t any other people present during an assault. A witness isn’t necessary to support a conviction, especially if the assault occurred without anyone else being present.

It can be helpful to have the testimony of a witness to injuries to the victim they observed after the assault, especially if they are healthcare workers who saw the victim shortly after the assault. But many assaults do not leave observable injuries. If the nature of the assault as described by the victim indicates to a jury that it probably didn’t result in an observable injury, the absence of any observable injury doesn’t preclude a conviction.

Evidence of a possible motive for an assault, like prior text messages indicating both a connection between the victim and the alleged perpetrator as well as a logical reason for the alleged perpetrator to assault the victim (for example, evidence of a past dispute over a guy especially if that dispute was shortly before the assault) can persuasively enhance the credibility of the victim.

In such a situation, the alleged perpetrator probably needs to introduce persuasive evidence of an alibi showing that he was nowhere near where the assault occurred at the time is allegedly happened or persuasive evidence the victim is lying such as a prior inconsistent statement of the victim to an unbiased person, or better yet one in writing or taped.

A: The testimony of the alleged victim is not hearsay if she shows up and testifies under oath that you assaulted her. The fact that she is the only witness to the incident is not unusual. Many assaults occur when the only folks there are the alleged victim and the alleged perpetrator. Listen to your attorney's advice and go to trial if that is what you ultimately want to do. You attorney will do what he or she can do to convince the jury that you are not guilty of the offense.

A: The state will have a difficult time getting a conviction on hearsay only. Normally the prosecutor will have at least one witness to testify that a crime did happen and the defendant did it. Pretrial evidentiary issues are less common in most assault cases, compared to other types of criminal cases. If the prosecutor is unwilling to agree to a fair and just resolution of the case, the defendant's can force the prosecution to attempt to produce persuasive evidence at a jury trial. The jury trial is often the most powerful protection of the accused.