If you touch someone's arm, but not in the form of a grab, but as two fingers above the elbow, and this is before they say, "don't touch me!" would that constitute assault or battery under Colorado law?

I'll give some context: Jill and Jack are arguing. Jill walks past Jack, Jack says, "Don't you go away," and touches Jill's arm as she passes. Jill says, "don't you touch me again or I'll call the police!" Jack sees that Jill is hysterical and has indicated a preference for no further contact so he doesn't touch her after that point. The argument remains verbal.

common sense says this isn't assault or battery. If the touch is not a closed hand over the arm, which would be a restraining move, nor is it done after a verbal request for no contact, it sounds like the one of the "safe" forms of contact such as handshakes, tapping someone on the shoulder, or patting someone on the back (non-sexually). The law I've seen says "harm or intent to harm." The question is, what kind of a chance would Jill have of successfully arguing that this contact was an assault or battery?

What you are talking to comes down to intent. If there is no intent to harm or to touch in an offensive manner, there should be no assault. However, sometimes these common sense things have gone to juries. This should not go that far.

The law I've seen says "harm or intent to harm." The question is, what kind of a chance would Jill have of successfully arguing that this contact was an assault or battery?

I'm not sure why Jill would be arguing anything... is she suing him or something?

If you want to know how much success the state would have arguing for battery in a criminal case, then it's hard to say without more facts. If nothing else happened then I can't imagine anyone getting convicted of a crime based on the facts you presented alone.

If Jack has a habit of hitting her, then this incident might be viewed differently.

I've head of guys that haven't physicly hurt a girl other than pushing her when she was hitting him, and had tried to accuse him of abusing her..Women can get away with that.

I've head of guys that haven't physicly hurt a girl other than pushing her when she was hitting him, and had tried to accuse him of abusing her..Women can get away with that.

In the upper left hand corner of every post is the date.

Notice that this original post is from 3 years ago.

Wayyyyy past the expiration date of a "Yeah, I knew a guy" type comment.

Easy Jeff. She's new.