Aggravated Assault Charges in NJ Dismissed

No Early Release Act Avoided

Keith Oliver from my office just finished representing an individual who was charged with aggravated assault; a crime of the second degree. If the individual was convicted of aggravated assault, in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:12-1b, they could be sentenced to up to 10 years in a New Jersey State Prison. In addition, if convicted of this offense, the defendant would also be sentenced subject to the No Early Release Act (“N.E.R.A.”). N.E.R.A. will require the defendant to serve at least 85% of their sentence before they can be eligible for parole. As you can tell this is a very serious offense and the repercussions if convicted are life changing.

The facts of the case are pretty straight forward. This was a domestic dispute between a husband and wife. The husband alleged that his wife attacked him while he was sleeping and continued to assault and choke him  as he attempted to contact 911 for help. There was very minor visible injuries on the victim, however, based on his version of the facts and the injuries alleged, the police charged the wife with aggravated assault in the second degree. To be convicted of aggravated assault in the second degree the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant either caused serious bodily injury or in the alternative attempted to cause serious bodily injury.

Based on the lack of the evidence in the case, Mr. Oliver was able to convince the prosecutors office to remand this case back to municipal court. Once the case was remanded, the charges were amended to a simple assault. Under New Jersey law, simple assault is a disorderly persons offense and not a felony. Once we arrived in municipal court on this matter we were able to convince the municipal prosecutor that he would not be able to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt and as a result the charges must be dismissed. Therefore, the defendant went from facing up to ten years in a New Jersey state prison, where they must serve 85% of their sentence before they could become eligible for parole, too the charges being outright dismissed. 

The Law Offices of Jonathan F. Marshall is an experienced Bergen County Criminal Defense Firm, with a long track record of success. We have over 100 years of combined experience on staff, including over twenty-five years of prior prosecuting experience. If you or someone you know has been charged with a criminal offense in Bergen County we can help. Please contact any one of our Bergen County Offices for a free initial consultation with any one of our eight criminal defense attorneys.