You may be accused of assault if you caused, or knowingly or recklessly caused, bodily injury to another person, with or without the use of a deadly weapon. However, you may believe this is a wrongful accusation, as an outsider’s perspective may be completely different from the incident you experienced first-hand. With this, you must prepare a solid defense to present to the New Jersey criminal court. So, without further ado, please follow along to find out the potential defenses I can take against an assault charge and how a proficient Morristown criminal defense lawyer at Graves Andrews, LLC can help lessen the penalties imposed on you.
What are the potential defenses I can take against an assault charge?
The prosecution holds the burden of proof in establishing, beyond a reasonable doubt, that you committed an assault offense. Therefore, there are different defense strategies you may adopt to poke holes in their argument, so to speak. They read as follows:
- Self-defense: with this, you may argue that you reasonably believed you were in immediate danger and needed to use force to protect yourself.
- Lack of intent: with this, you may argue that you did not purposely, knowingly, or recklessly cause harm or fear of harm to another person.
- Alibi: with this, you may argue that you were not present at the scene of the alleged assault on the date and time it took place.
- Misidentification: with this, you may argue that you were wrongly identified as the perpetrator of an assault offense.
Further, you may also claim that the prosecution has a lack of witness credibility or overall a lack of sufficient evidence that causes them to fail in fulfilling their burden of proof. Or, that they missed the statute of limitations to charge you with this alleged assault offense.
What are the potential penalties I can face if I am convicted of assault?
It is worth mentioning that some of the aforementioned defenses may entail an admittance that you did commit an assault offense. However, at the very least, they may work to reduce the potential penalties placed against you. They may even prevent your simple assault conviction from getting upgraded to that of aggressive assault. This is the pivotal difference between a disorderly persons offense versus an indictable offense. With that being said, our team will do everything in our conceivable power to lessen the following criminal consequences:
- Potential penalties for simple assault in the state of New Jersey:
- A jail sentence of up to 60 days.
- A fine of up to $1,000.
- Potential penalties for aggravated assault in the state of New Jersey:
- A prison sentence of anywhere between 18 months to 10 years.
- A fine of anywhere between $10,000 to $150,000.
If you need a legal representative urgently, please do not miss another opportunity to schedule an initial consultation with a talented Morristown criminal defense lawyer from Graves Andrews, LLC. Contact our firm today.
