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PC 422 Criminal Threats Charges

HAVE YOU BEEN CHARGED WITH PC 422?

If so, I can help you fight these charges. I have over 20 years of experience exclusively in Criminal Defense and I know how to defend those accused of committing PC 422, also known as criminal threats.

What does the district attorney have to prove for PC 422:

  • YOU willfully threatened to commit a crime resulting in death or great bodily injury to victim;
  • YOU made the threat with the specific intent that the statement, made verbally, in writing, or by means of an electronic communication device, be taken as a threat;
  • YOU may or may not have had an intent of actually carrying out the threat
  • The threatening statement on its face, and under the circumstances in which it was made, was so unequivocal, unconditional, immediate, and specific as to convey to the victim a gravity of purpose and an immediate prospect of execution;
  • The threatening statement caused the victim to reasonably be in sustained fear for his or her own safety or for his or her immediate family's safety.

This allegation could be charged as a Misdemeanor (from Probation including up to 1 year in county jail) OR as a Felony (from Probation up to 16 months/2 years/3 years State Prison). As a Felony this is a "Strike" offense (Serious) under the Three-Strikes Law. PC 1192.7(c)(8) & (38).

California Penal Code section 422 states:

(a) Any person who willfully threatens to commit a crime which will result in death or great bodily injury to another person, with the specific intent that the statement, made verbally, in writing, or by means of an electronic communication device, is to be taken as a threat, even if there is no intent of actually carrying it out, which, on its face and under the circumstances in which it is made, is so unequivocal, unconditional, immediate, and specific as to convey to the person threatened, a gravity of purpose and an immediate prospect of execution of the threat, and thereby causes that person reasonably to be in sustained fear for his or her own safety or for his or her immediate family's safety, shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail not to exceed one year, or by imprisonment in the state prison.
(b) For purposes of this section, “immediate family” means any spouse, whether by marriage or not, parent, child, any person related by consanguinity or affinity within the second degree, or any other person who regularly resides in the household, or who, within the prior six months, regularly resided in the household.
(c) “Electronic communication device” includes, but is not limited to, telephones, cellular telephones, computers, video recorders, fax machines, or pagers. “Electronic communication” has the same meaning as the term defined in Subsection 12 of Section 2510 of Title 18 of the United States Code.
(Amended (as amended by Stats. 2011, Ch. 15) by Stats. 2011, Ch. 39, Sec. 16. (AB 117) Effective June 30, 2011. Operative October 1, 2011, pursuant to Secs. 68 and 69 of Ch. 39.)

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