Is assault and battery a felony? In Tennessee, we don't call it assault and battery it's called an aggravated assault. An aggravated assault is a felony. There's one of three ways in which an aggravated assault can be made. One, the use or display of a deadly weapon. Two, a person suffered serious bodily injury. The serious bodily injury is defined in the code section but it's like a broken arm, a broken bone, a serious injury, loss of unconsciousness. Several years ago, the Tennessee state legislature enacted another type of felony and that is strangulation. That if you strangle or cut off the flow of oxygen, choke someone out; put them into unconsciousness that is also an aggravated assault, which is a felony.
