Bodily Injury Under Texas Penal Code: Assault Charges & Penalties

Under the Texas Penal Code, bodily injury means physical pain, illness, or any impairment of physical condition. That definition sits in Section 1.07, and it is deliberately broad: a shove that leaves no mark can support a criminal charge if the person felt pain.¹ From that single definition, Texas builds a ladder of offenses that runs from Class A misdemeanor assault to first-degree aggravated assault carrying up to 99 years or life. Where a case lands on that ladder depends on who was hurt, how, and what the accused has done before.

Bodily Injury vs. Serious Bodily Injury

The statute sets no minimum severity for bodily injury. A bruise, a scratch, soreness from being grabbed — any of these qualify. Texas courts have upheld convictions where the only proof of injury was the victim’s testimony that something hurt, without medical records or photographs. There is no requirement of lasting harm, visible marks, or treatment.

“Serious bodily injury” is a separate, far higher threshold. It covers injury that creates a substantial risk of death, causes death, produces serious permanent disfigurement, or results in prolonged loss or impairment of a bodily organ or limb.¹ The gap between the two definitions is the line between misdemeanor assault and felony aggravated assault.

The Baseline Assault Offense

Section 22.01 makes it an offense to intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly cause bodily injury to another person.² Standing alone, that is a Class A misdemeanor. Punishment reaches up to one year in county jail and a fine up to $4,000, and judges frequently impose community supervision with conditions like anger management, no-contact orders, or community service in place of jail.³

The baseline is only the starting point. A long list of circumstances push the same conduct up to a felony.

When Assault Becomes a Felony

Third-Degree Felony Enhancements

Assault causing bodily injury becomes a third-degree felony when the victim falls into a protected category under Section 22.01(b), including:

A public servant on duty, including police officers, firefighters, and paramedics, or an assault committed in retaliation for a public servant’s official actions.
A security officer performing assigned duties.
Emergency services personnel such as EMTs and emergency room staff providing emergency care.
A pregnant person, where the accused knows of the pregnancy or acts to force a termination.
A government contractor or employee of a juvenile or correctional facility.

A family violence assault also becomes a third-degree felony when the accused has a prior conviction for any offense against a family or household member under the assault, homicide, kidnapping, or sexual assault statutes.² The earlier conviction does not have to involve the same victim. A third-degree felony carries 2 to 10 years in state prison and a fine up to $10,000.⁴

Second-Degree Felony: Strangulation

When a family or household member assault involves choking or strangulation, the charge jumps to a second-degree felony. The statute defines the conduct as impeding normal breathing or blood circulation by applying pressure to the throat or neck, or by blocking the nose or mouth.² Prosecutors do not have to show the victim lost consciousness or sustained visible neck injuries; proof that applied pressure restricted breathing is enough. Second-degree felony punishment is 2 to 20 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000.⁵

Aggravated Assault

Section 22.02 defines aggravated assault as an assault that either causes serious bodily injury or involves the use or display of a deadly weapon.⁶ A deadly weapon is not limited to firearms and knives. Texas courts have treated cars, baseball bats, boots, and dogs as deadly weapons when used in a way capable of causing death or serious injury.

Aggravated assault is a second-degree felony by default and rises to a first-degree felony in several situations, including when a deadly weapon causes serious bodily injury to a family or household member; when the assault produces a persistent vegetative state or irreversible paralysis; when the victim is a public servant on duty, a witness, or an informant; and when the offense involves firing a weapon from a vehicle at a building, home, or occupied vehicle, or is part of a mass shooting. First-degree aggravated assault carries 5 to 99 years in prison, or life, plus a fine up to $10,000.⁶

Continuous Violence Against the Family

Section 25.11 creates a separate offense for repeated domestic assaults. A person commits continuous violence against the family by assaulting a family or household member two or more times within a 12-month period.⁷ It is a third-degree felony even if each individual assault would have been a misdemeanor on its own. Jurors do not have to agree unanimously on which specific incidents occurred, only that at least two qualifying assaults happened within the 12-month window.

Penalty Ranges at a Glance

Class A misdemeanor: up to one year in county jail and a fine up to $4,000.³
Third-degree felony: 2 to 10 years in state prison and a fine up to $10,000.⁴
Second-degree felony: 2 to 20 years in state prison and a fine up to $10,000.⁵
First-degree felony: 5 to 99 years in state prison, or life, and a fine up to $10,000.

The jump from Class A misdemeanor to third-degree felony is where most of the real-world damage happens. A misdemeanor with probation often leaves a life intact. A felony sends someone to state prison with a record that follows them.

Self-Defense

Self-defense is the most common legal justification in bodily injury cases. Under Section 9.31, a person may use force when they reasonably believe it is immediately necessary to protect themselves against another’s unlawful force.⁸ Texas is a stand-your-ground state. There is no duty to retreat if you have a right to be where you are, did not provoke the confrontation, and were not engaged in criminal activity beyond a minor traffic offense.

The law presumes your use of force was reasonable when someone unlawfully forces entry into your home, vehicle, or workplace, or when the other person is committing a violent felony such as robbery, kidnapping, murder, or sexual assault.⁸ Prosecutors then carry the burden of overcoming that presumption.

Deadly force is narrower. Under Section 9.32, it is justified only when you reasonably believe it is immediately necessary to protect yourself against another’s use or attempted use of deadly force, or to prevent an imminent violent felony like murder, aggravated kidnapping, sexual assault, or robbery. The same presumption of reasonableness applies in the home, vehicle, and workplace situations. A judge or jury cannot consider whether you failed to retreat in deciding whether deadly force was necessary.⁹

Self-defense fails in several situations. You cannot claim it if you provoked the confrontation, unless you clearly tried to withdraw and the other person kept attacking. It is unavailable if you responded only to verbal provocation, or if you were resisting a lawful arrest. Consent also defeats the claim: if you agreed to fight, you cannot later argue you were defending yourself.⁸

Protective Orders After a Family Violence Arrest

When someone is arrested for assault involving family violence, a magistrate can issue an emergency protective order at arraignment, often within hours of the arrest. These orders typically last 31 to 61 days. Orders involving sexual assault or stalking can run up to 91 days.¹⁰

The restrictions are immediate. A protective order can bar contact with the victim, forbid the accused from going near the victim’s home, workplace, or children’s school, prohibit firearm possession, suspend any license to carry a handgun, and require GPS monitoring. Violating one is a separate crime punishable by up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine, on top of whatever comes from the underlying assault.¹⁰ Expect one to be in place before you post bail. An accidental call or stopping by a shared home can trigger a new arrest.

Consequences Beyond the Sentence

Firearms

Any felony conviction prohibits firearm possession in Texas. Under Section 46.04, a convicted felon cannot possess a firearm for five years after completing the sentence, including any parole, mandatory supervision, or community supervision. After that period, possession is only lawful at the premises where the person lives; carrying a firearm anywhere else remains a crime indefinitely.¹¹

Federal law goes further. Under 18 U.S.C. § 922, anyone convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence faces a lifetime ban on possessing firearms or ammunition.¹² The federal ban has no expiration and no home-possession exception. A Class A misdemeanor assault against a spouse, dating partner, or co-parent triggers it.

Criminal Record and Nondisclosure

A felony conviction creates a permanent record that appears on standard background checks and closes doors to jobs requiring professional licenses, security clearances, or work with vulnerable populations. Texas allows some records to be sealed through nondisclosure orders, but offenses with a family violence finding are categorically excluded, whether the case ended in conviction or deferred adjudication. That finding stays visible to anyone running a background check, permanently.

Immigration

Non-citizens face severe exposure. Federal immigration law treats certain assault convictions as crimes of moral turpitude or aggravated felonies, either of which can trigger deportation or permanent inadmissibility. Even a misdemeanor family violence conviction can be enough. Anyone without U.S. citizenship charged with a bodily injury offense should consult an immigration attorney alongside criminal defense counsel. The immigration consequences are often worse than the sentence.

Civil Suits and Restitution

A criminal case does not block a civil lawsuit. Victims can sue for medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering, and the civil burden of proof is lower, so a civil judgment is possible even after a criminal acquittal. Within the criminal case, a judge can order restitution for the victim’s out-of-pocket losses. Restitution is part of the sentence, not a negotiable debt, and failure to pay can revoke community supervision or parole.

1
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code PENAL 1.07 – Definitions
2
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code Section 22.01 – Assault
3
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code Section 12.21 – Class A Misdemeanor
4
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code Section 12.34 – Third Degree Felony Punishment
5
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code Section 12.33 – Second Degree Felony Punishment
6
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code Section 22.02 – Aggravated Assault
7
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code Section 25.11 – Continuous Violence Against the Family
8
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code Section 9.31 – Self-Defense
9
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code Section 9.32 – Deadly Force in Defense of Person
10
State of Texas. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure CRIM P Art. 17.292
11
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code PENAL 46.04 – Unlawful Possession of Firearm
12
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts