East Brunswick Simple Assault Attorney
East Brunswick NJ Simple Assault Defense Lawyer
Whether an argument escalated into pushing and slapping, you are accused of threatening someone with immediate harm, or police allege that you recklessly injured someone with a deadly weapon, chances are your night turned into a nightmare when arrested for simple assault and taken to East Brunswick Police Station. Now you’re facing simple assault charges, a criminal record, and who knows what other punishments. Naturally, you’re worried about going to jail, losing your job, and damaging your reputation. But all is by no means lost if you have summoned to appear in East Brunswick Municipal Court for a simple assault offense. In fact, there are many ways to successfully resolve a simple assault case with the help of a knowledgeable criminal defense lawyer. To discuss your case with a skilled East Brunswick simple assault attorney at our firm free of charge, contact us online or by phone anytime at (732) 659-9600. A member of our team at our local office is available immediately to assist you.
Middlesex County’s East Brunswick Township sidles the South River, the waterway that runs under what now houses the Historic District of Old Bridge. Once known for its 19th century pottery but now known as a fast-growing suburb brimming with light industry, shopping malls, quick marts and fast eats, East Brunswick houses over 45,000 diverse residents, who travel its 137 miles of roadways and enjoy its 9 community parks. But like many major municipalities, East Brunswick’s violent and property crime rate might make a visitor take note. Ranked as average in the nation’s safest neighborhoods, the township reports about 2.47 assaults per 1,000 residents, higher than other violent crimes. Among the many assault charges issued in the township, East Brunswick is responsible for numerous arrests and charges for simple assault.
Facing East Brunswick Simple Assault Charges
In the New Jersey criminal statutes, particularly section N.J.S.A. 2C:12(a), simple assault means purposely or recklessly causing another bodily harm or threatening to cause another bodily harm. It also includes negligently harming others with a deadly weapon. New Jersey classifies simple assault as a disorderly persons offense, or a petty disorderly persons offense if the illegal conduct occurs in a consensual fight. A disorderly persons offense conviction, which is handled in the local municipal court, comes with a potential six-month jail sentence and a fine amounting to $1,000.00. In simple assault cases involving a mutual fight, this petty disorderly person’=s offense conviction can end in a 30-day jail sentence and a $500.00 fine.
New Jersey categorizes crimes by degrees, first through fourth. The lesser disorderly persons offenses are not felony crimes; however, a conviction results in a criminal record. A second, third or fourth degree crime for aggravated assault, has more serious consequences. At the highest of the sentencing range, second degree aggravated assault carries possibly five to ten years’ imprisonment and $150,000.00 in fines. Notably, a simple assault rises to aggravated assault when serious or substantial bodily injury (death, disfigurement or permanent injury) follows from a simple assault. Additionally, simple assault elevates to aggravated assault when committed against a class of protected people performing their jobs: law enforcement or corrections officers, school or utility company employees, firefighters or Division of Child Protection and Permanency Services workers, court judges or justices, or health care and psychiatric workers. So, for example, an individual who injures a school bus driver by swinging a book-loaded backpack at them while they’re driving the school bus may be charged with aggravated assault.
Accused of Simple Assault in an East Brunswick Domestic Violence Case
Simple assault may also be the source of domestic violence, if perhaps one spouse or current or former romantic partner, family member, or person in the same household, is accused of striking, pushing, or threatening another so as to cause bodily harm. Typically, if the injured household member or significant other suffers substantial injury, such as a broken arm, gun shot wound, or other life-threatening injury, the simple assault rises to aggravated assault. In either case, domestic violence frequently ends in not only assault and domestic violence charges, but a restraining order to protect the threatened or injured spouse from the abuser’s harassing, stalking, assaulting, battering, or otherwise contacting the protected people named in the order.
Thus, if an injured domestic violence victim calls the police to the crime scene, the accused may be charged with simple assault and have a restraining order issued against them, preventing them from further assaulting, harassing or contacting the protected spouse. Contact includes making telephone calls, emails or texts. A simple text message is a violation of a restraining order order. A domestic violence restraining order violation, resulting in contempt charges, could raise a simple assault from a disorderly persons violation to a fourth degree crime if the restraining order violation constitutes a separate crime, such as assault. Fourth degree crimes are punishable by up to 18 months in prison with a possible $10,000.00 fine.
Grounds for domestic violence charges and restraining orders are described in the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act that permits victims of any of the crimes listed in the Act, such as stalking, cyber-harassment, assault, battery, kidnapping, or any crime causing another serious bodily injury or risk of bodily injury, to seek a restraining order in the Superior Court in the county where they live or where the abused occurred. Alternatively, the victim can get a temporary restraining order with help at the local police station.
Talk to a Simple Assault Attorney in East Brunswick Today
A simple assault conviction may have serious consequences, so get advice if you have been arrested and charged with a violation of NJSA 2C:12-1a in East Brunswick. An experienced criminal defense attorney familiar with the East Brunswick Municipal Court and Middlesex County Court can explain your options, provide answers to your questions, and assist you with navigating the legal process in the coming days. For a free consultation with an East Brunswick simple assault lawyer who can help, call us at (732) 659-9600 or start a chat now.