Texas Penal Code 22.01: Assault Penalties and Felony Triggers

Texas Penal Code 22.01 is the state’s simple assault statute. It criminalizes three kinds of conduct: causing bodily injury to another person, threatening someone with imminent bodily injury, and making physical contact you know the other person will find offensive or provocative. Penalties start at a $500 fine for the lowest-level offense and reach up to 20 years in prison when the assault involves a family or household member, strangulation, and a prior family violence conviction.

What Counts as Assault

Section 22.01(a) sets out three distinct ways to commit the offense.¹

The first is causing bodily injury intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly. Texas defines “bodily injury” broadly to include any physical pain, illness, or impairment of physical condition.² A shove that causes momentary pain can satisfy the element. Visible bruises or broken bones are not required.

The second is threatening someone with imminent bodily injury. Words, a raised fist, or a menacing gesture can qualify if they put the other person in fear of immediate harm. A vague threat about something that might happen later does not meet the “imminent” requirement.

The third is making physical contact you know, or should reasonably know, the other person will regard as offensive or provocative. Spitting on someone or grabbing something out of their hands can qualify even when no injury results.

Penalty Levels Under 22.01

Class C Misdemeanor

Assault by threat or by offensive contact that causes no injury is a Class C misdemeanor under Section 22.01(c). The maximum penalty is a fine of up to $500, with no jail time.³

A few exceptions bump this baseline up. Offensive contact against an elderly or disabled person is a Class A misdemeanor. Offensive contact against a pregnant person intended to coerce an abortion is also a Class A. Assaulting a sports official performing their duties is a Class B.¹

Class A Misdemeanor

When the assault causes actual bodily injury, the default charge under Section 22.01(b) is a Class A misdemeanor. Conviction carries a fine of up to $4,000, up to one year in county jail, or both.⁴ Court costs and surcharges add to the statutory fine, and the conviction creates a permanent criminal record.

Third-Degree Felony

Several circumstances take a bodily-injury assault directly to a third-degree felony, which carries two to ten years in prison and a possible fine of up to $10,000.⁵ These are detailed in the next section.

Second-Degree Felony

The harshest penalty available under 22.01 is a second-degree felony, carrying two to twenty years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.⁶ It applies in one narrow situation, discussed below.

When the Charge Jumps to a Felony

Assault on a Protected Victim

Section 22.01(b) lists categories of victims whose status elevates a bodily-injury assault from a Class A misdemeanor to a third-degree felony. The most common is assault on a public servant lawfully performing an official duty, which includes law enforcement officers but reaches further.¹ Other protected roles include emergency services personnel responding to an emergency, security officers performing security duties, and process servers delivering legal documents. The prosecution has to prove you knew the victim held one of these roles and that the victim was performing their duties at the time.

Family Violence Assault

Texas treats assault differently when the victim has a family, household, or dating relationship with the defendant. The Family Code definition of “family violence” covers acts between family members, household members, current or former spouses, co-parents, and people in a current or past dating relationship.⁷ Foster children and foster parents are included within “family.”⁸

A standard family violence assault that causes bodily injury is a Class A misdemeanor. Two things can push it higher.

Strangulation. If the assault involves choking, strangulation, or otherwise blocking someone’s breathing or blood circulation, including applying pressure to the throat or neck or blocking the nose or mouth, the charge becomes a third-degree felony even on a first offense.¹

Prior family violence conviction. A new assault against a family or household member becomes a third-degree felony if you have a prior conviction for a qualifying family violence offense, even when the new conduct would otherwise be a misdemeanor. Qualifying priors include offenses under the assault chapter, murder, kidnapping, sexual assault of a child, and protective order violations involving family violence. Deferred adjudication for a prior family violence offense counts.¹

Strangulation plus a prior. Section 22.01(b-3) sets the top of the statute. If all three conditions are met — the victim qualifies as a family or household member, you have a qualifying prior family violence conviction, and the assault involved blocking breathing or circulation — the charge is a second-degree felony punishable by two to twenty years.¹

When It Crosses Into Aggravated Assault

Section 22.01 covers simple assault. If the same incident involves serious bodily injury or the use or display of a deadly weapon, the charging statute is Section 22.02, aggravated assault.⁹ “Serious bodily injury” means injury that creates a substantial risk of death or causes permanent disfigurement or loss or impairment of a body part. A “deadly weapon” includes any firearm, anything designed to cause death or serious injury, and any object capable of causing death or serious injury based on how it is used.²

Aggravated assault is a second-degree felony by default. It becomes a first-degree felony, carrying five to ninety-nine years or life, when the defendant uses a deadly weapon and causes serious bodily injury to a family member, when the victim is a public servant, process server, or security officer performing their duties, or when the offense is committed as part of a mass shooting.⁹

Self-Defense

Texas Penal Code Section 9.31 allows a person to use force when they reasonably believe it is immediately necessary to protect themselves against another’s unlawful force.¹⁰ Texas is a stand-your-ground state. If you have a right to be where you are, did not provoke the confrontation, and are not engaged in criminal activity, you have no duty to retreat before using force, and the jury is instructed not to consider whether you could have retreated.

The statute also presumes your belief was reasonable in certain high-stakes situations, including someone forcing their way into your home, vehicle, or workplace, or someone committing a violent crime such as robbery, kidnapping, or sexual assault.

Self-defense has firm limits. Force is not justified:

In response to words alone, no matter how threatening or insulting.
To resist an arrest by a known peace officer, unless the officer uses excessive force first.
When you provoked the other person, unless you clearly tried to disengage and the other person kept coming.
When you consented to the fight, as to any force within what you consented to.

The verbal-provocation rule catches many people off guard. Someone screaming threats in your face may itself be a Class C assault, but it does not authorize you to throw a punch. The moment you respond physically to pure words, you become the aggressor.

How Long Prosecutors Have to File

Misdemeanor assault charges, whether Class A, B, or C, must be filed within two years of the offense.¹¹ Felony assault charges, including the family violence and protected-victim enhancements, carry a three-year statute of limitations.¹² The clock runs from the date of the offense, not from when it was reported.

Consequences Beyond the Sentence

Lifetime Federal Firearm Ban

A misdemeanor assault conviction that qualifies as a crime of domestic violence under federal law triggers a lifetime ban on possessing firearms or ammunition. Under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(9), anyone convicted of a misdemeanor involving the use or attempted use of physical force against a spouse, former spouse, co-parent, or cohabitant is permanently prohibited from owning or purchasing guns.¹³ This is federal, so it applies regardless of what Texas state law says about gun rights restoration.

Criminal Record Impact

Even a Class A misdemeanor conviction creates a permanent criminal record. Employers who run background checks will see it. Landlords can use it to deny a rental. Professional licensing boards in healthcare, education, law, and other fields can deny, suspend, or condition a license based on an assault conviction. A family violence finding adds another layer: it can affect custody proceedings and trigger protective orders that limit where you can go and who you can contact. Violating a protective order is itself a separate criminal offense.

1
State of Texas. Texas Code Penal Code 22.01 – Assault
2
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 1.07 – Definitions
3
State of Texas. Texas Code Penal 12.23 – Class C Misdemeanor
4
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 12.21 – Class A Misdemeanor
5
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 12.34 – Third Degree Felony Punishment
6
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 12.33 – Second Degree Felony Punishment
7
State of Texas. Texas Family Code 71.004 – Family Violence
8
State of Texas. Texas Family Code 71.003 – Family
9
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 22.02 – Aggravated Assault
10
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 9.31 – Self-Defense
11
State of Texas. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure 12.02 – Misdemeanors
12
State of Texas. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure 12.01 – Felonies
13
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts