(a) A person is guilty of assault in the first degree when:
(1) The person intentionally causes serious physical injury to another person by means of a deadly weapon or a dangerous instrument; or
(2) The person intentionally disfigures another person seriously and permanently, or intentionally destroys, amputates or disables permanently a member or organ of another person’s body; or
(3) The person recklessly engages in conduct which creates a substantial risk of death to another person, and thereby causes serious physical injury to another person; or
(4) While engaged in the commission of, or attempt to commit, or flight after committing or attempting to commit any felony, the person intentionally or recklessly causes serious physical injury to another person; or
(5) The person intentionally causes serious physical injury to a law-enforcement officer, a volunteer firefighter, a full-time firefighter, emergency medical technician, paramedic, fire police officer, fire marshal, public transit operator, a code enforcement constable or a code enforcement officer who is acting in the lawful performance of duty; or
(6) The person intentionally causes serious physical injury to the operator of an ambulance, a rescue squad member, licensed practical nurse, registered nurse, paramedic, licensed medical doctor or any other person while such person is rendering emergency care; or
(7) The person intentionally causes serious physical injury to another person who is 62 years of age or older.
(b) It is no defense, for an offense under paragraph (a)(7) of this section, that the accused did not know the person’s age or that the accused reasonably believed the person to be under the age of 62.
(c) Assault in the first degree is a class B felony.
11 Del. C. 1953,
§
613;
58 Del. Laws, c. 497,
§
1;
63 Del. Laws, c. 50,
§
2;
63 Del. Laws, c. 237,
§
2;
67 Del. Laws, c. 130,
§
8;
68 Del. Laws, c. 129,
§§
2, 3;
69 Del. Laws, c. 24,
§§
5, 6;
70 Del. Laws, c. 186,
§
1;
72 Del. Laws, c. 34,
§
11;
73 Del. Laws, c. 126,
§§
4, 16;
74 Del. Laws, c. 106,
§
1;
75 Del. Laws, c. 168,
§
1;
77 Del. Laws, c. 119,
§
2;
77 Del. Laws, c. 265,
§
2;
78 Del. Laws, c. 325,
§
2;
Notes of Decisions
Cited in
17
cases (
11 in the last 5 years), 1975–2026 · leading case:
Ward v. State
Ward v. State (1976)
del
“§ 531, § 636, and convicted by a Superior Court jury of assault in the first degree, 11 Del.C. § 613. He appeals alleging, inter alia, that it was error for the Trial Court to comment on the credibility of a prosecution witness and that he was denied a fair trial as a…”
Evans v. State (1980)
del
“Although Hunter was an Assault in the First Degree case under 11 Del.C. § 613(1), it is indistinguishable on the law in this Second Degree Assault Case.”
Harris v. State (2009)
del
“In sum, there was ample evidence to support the trial court’s guilty verdict. CONCLUSION Based on the foregoing, the assault second degree conviction is reversed and all remaining convictions are affirmed.”
State v. Kimbrough (2025)
delsuperct · cites it 2×
“7 11 Del. C. §§ 613(c), 4205(b)(2). 8 11 Del.”
Laster v. State (2019)
del
“(15) Despite the fact that the court’s response to the jury note was an accurate statement of the law, Laster argues that the response prejudiced him.”
State v. Tucker (2021)
delsuperct
“69 11 Del. C. §613(a) states that a person is guilty of assault in the first degree when: (1) The person intentionally causes serious physical injury to another person by means of a deadly weapon or a dangerous instrument.”
State v. Melendez (2024)
delsuperct
“Assault First is a Class B Felony which carriers a term of incarceration of “not less than 2 years up to 25 years to be served at Level V.”
Kegler v. State (2024)
del
“”) with 11 Del. C. § 613(a)(1), (4) (providing that a person is guilty of first-degree assault when they intentionally cause physical injury to another person with a deadly weapon or when they intentionally or recklessly cause serious injury to person while committing or fleeing…”
State v. Church (2025)
delsuperct
“The charge of which the jury ultimately convicted Defendant, the lesser- included offense of assault in the second degree, permitted a guilty finding if Defendant acted either intentionally or recklessly and caused Handte serious physical injury.”
State v. Church (2025)
delsuperct
“For the reasons stated in this Court’s earlier decision 15 11 Del. C. § 613(a)(2). 16 11 Del. C. § 612(a)(1).”
State v. Acuapa (2025)
delsuperct
“01041795 10 See 11 Del. Code §§ 613, 4205(2).”
— 11 Del. C. § 613(1) — 1 case
Evans v. State (1980)
del
“Although Hunter was an Assault in the First Degree case under 11 Del.C. § 613(1), it is indistinguishable on the law in this Second Degree Assault Case.”
— 11 Del. C. § 613(a) — 1 case
State v. Tucker (2021)
delsuperct
“69 11 Del. C. §613(a) states that a person is guilty of assault in the first degree when: (1) The person intentionally causes serious physical injury to another person by means of a deadly weapon or a dangerous instrument.”
— 11 Del. C. § 613(a)(1) — 1 case
Kegler v. State (2024)
del
“”) with 11 Del. C. § 613(a)(1), (4) (providing that a person is guilty of first-degree assault when they intentionally cause physical injury to another person with a deadly weapon or when they intentionally or recklessly cause serious injury to person while committing or fleeing…”
— 11 Del. C. § 613(a)(2) — 2 cases
State v. Church (2025)
delsuperct
“The charge of which the jury ultimately convicted Defendant, the lesser- included offense of assault in the second degree, permitted a guilty finding if Defendant acted either intentionally or recklessly and caused Handte serious physical injury.”
State v. Church (2025)
delsuperct
“For the reasons stated in this Court’s earlier decision 15 11 Del. C. § 613(a)(2). 16 11 Del. C. § 612(a)(1).”
— 11 Del. C. § 613(a)(3) — 2 cases
Laster v. State (2019)
del
“(15) Despite the fact that the court’s response to the jury note was an accurate statement of the law, Laster argues that the response prejudiced him.”
— 11 Del. C. § 613(a)(5) — 1 case
Harris v. State (2009)
del
“In sum, there was ample evidence to support the trial court’s guilty verdict. CONCLUSION Based on the foregoing, the assault second degree conviction is reversed and all remaining convictions are affirmed.”
— 11 Del. C. § 613(c) — 3 cases
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.