Aggravated Assault

Charges for assault can be elevated to aggravated assault under certain conditions surrounding the offense. Even in its lowest form, if convicted of aggravated assault you could be looking at serving a minimum of a year and a half in prison. Make sure that you have an attorney on your side who understands these charges and how to obtain the best possible result for the charges. Our experienced team of New York criminal attorneys are ready to discuss the details with you and being working on your case.

The charges of assault become elevated to aggravated assault if the offender acts with intent to cause serious physical injury to a person whom they know or reasonably should have known that the victim is a police or peace officer while performing their duties and the offender causes such injury by means of a dangerous instrument or deadly weapon. Additionally, if the offender is over 18 years of age and commits an offense that is considered third-degree assault to a person who is less than 11 years old and they have previously been convicted of the same offense in the past three years.

Assault in the third degree applies when a person has acted with intent to cause physical injury to another and has caused such injury, if they have caused physical injury recklessly to another party or if they have caused the physical injury by means of a dangerous weapon or deadly instrument with criminal negligence. Keep in mind, this is just the charge for assault in the third degree, which is already a class A misdemeanor, and it becomes elevated to aggravated assault when the victim is below 11 and the offender is above 18 with a previous conviction of the same charge in the past three years. This is now a class E felony, which can result in significant fines and up to 4 years in prison.

If the victim of the assault is a police or peace officer as mentioned above, the charge is a class B violent felony. This means that if convicted, the offender could be sentenced to up to 30 years in prison as well as possibly being ordered to pay fines as well. It is incredibly important to have a legal team who understands how these charges apply and what they could mean to those who have been accused. Our experienced team of New York criminal attorneys are ready to represent you and handle these charges to make sure the best possible outcome is achieved.

There are possible defenses for these charges, such as lack of intent or justification. The specific details related to how you have been charged are what our team needs to know as soon as possible. If you were charged with aggravated assault but were acting out of self-defense or in defense of others, then you may have been incorrectly charged. Our team can help you understand your charges and make sure they are handled properly, so reach out now.