Criminal Threatening in New Hampshire

New Hampshire Criminal Defense Lawyers

Criminal Threatening in NH is a Verbal or Non-Verbal Threat that One Person Makes Against Another

In New Hampshire, criminal threatening is defined under RSA 631:4, which specifies that a person is guilty if they make claims to physically harm someone or create a fear of harm. Criminal threatening can also involve actions like placing graffiti or objects on another person’s property with the intent to instill fear or making threats that result in evacuations, causing public inconvenience. Tenn And Tenn, PA is familiar with cases under RSA 631:4 and can guide clients through these specific charges.

The statute makes clear that criminal threatening essentially has three fundamental elements: 1) threatening to commit a crime, 2) against another person, 3) with the purpose of terrorizing that person. Under this law, the mental status of the person making the claim is not determinative; rather, what matters is whether the person against whom the claim is made believes he or she will be immediately hurt.

The most common type of criminal threatening is verbal. For example, if someone tells another person that he or she is going to kill or otherwise hurt that person, those statements may place the listener in imminent fear of harm. However, criminal threatening is not limited to the use of words alone. Criminal threatening charges could be filed against a person who shows a gun or knife to someone else. If the offender is holding one of these items in such a way that the person viewing it might think the offender would use it to hurt him or her, it may amount to criminal threatening. In that case, no words need to be spoken, the simple actions may be enough to warrant criminal threatening charges in NH.

Another example of non-verbal threatening includes graffiti. This may be a case in which someone spray paints threatening statements on another person’s car, home, or other personal property. It could also be a display of some type of threatening display left on someone’s porch. If the person on the receiving end of these actions feels threatened, it could lead to criminal threatening charges.

In criminal threatening cases the prosecution must show that the person being threatened felt they were in imminent danger. It must also be proven that the person charged with the threatening did so with intent to terrorize or cause fear.

Criminal threatening can happen between people who have known each other for years and are in a relationship, or it can happen between people who have never seen one another before. The nature of the relationship is not in question, but rather the actions of the offender.

The consequences for criminal threatening can be severe. A criminal threatening charge is often charged as a misdemeanor. However, if the offender makes claims that result in the evacuation of a building, public transportation, or otherwise cause serious public inconvenience, a charge may be elevated to a felony-level crime. Likewise, the offender would face felony charges if he uses a deadly weapon (such as a firearm, knife, or other such item known to be capable of producing serious bodily injury) in the course of his conduct.

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