Michigan Assault Charge Criminal Defense Lawyer

Assault cases generally involve touching another person without their permission. It can be a violent, touching or non-violent touching. It doesn’t even have to be touching it all, it could be just placing somebody in fear of being touched like for instance when someone displays a knife with the apparent attempt or intent to hurt you. That is an assault. You have been placed in fear of being touched with the knife without your permission. 

The actual touching is the battery, which is why we frequently hear the term assault and battery. Therefore, in assault cases, there’s always a person who is identified as the victim. This is unique because in many criminal offenses, there isn’t an identified victim. When there is a victim, that means there is that individual’s story and prosecutors will always believe the victim. Prosecutors are fighting for the victim and victims don’t always tell the truth. The fact is that in almost every assault case the truth is not so easy to illustrate. There’s always the victim story versus the defendant’s story. As attorneys who represent those accused with assault should always be looking to discover our client’s story, and not just using the victim’s story. Discovering the story is a very critical step in defending every assault case. They are often highly emotional and emotionally charged cases, particularly at the beginning when emotions are high. Just looking at the police report doesn’t tell us what really happened. It just tells us one side of the story. In most cases the best way for the best course of action is to engage in our own independent investigation. We must investigate the facts, circumstances, places, and people independently in order to understand and discover the real story and the defendant’s story. These things are necessary when creating a strategy for the defense. And a good assault lawyer using the best creative strategies will create the best outcomes. Simply pleading guilty and begging for mercy generally is not the best defense strategy.

Assaultive Cases Can Be Very Serious, and Sometimes They Are Not

Assault cases often happen because of mis-perception if a victim perceives or even mis-perceives, being in fear of an assault that often can lead to criminal charges that are not valid. Plus many assault cases do not seem that serious as other circumstances. Actual physical contact is not necessary. For instance, taking a cell phone out of somebody’s hand without their permission is technically an assault and battery, but do we not often see that happen in real life? It happens all the time? That doesn’t mean it necessarily should be a criminal offense or conviction. On the other hand, assault cases can be very serious, particularly when there’s weapons involved or when people get injured and need medical treatment or assistance due to the actions of the accused (or others). If a victim or serious injury is involved, that doesn’t mean the accused does not deserve an opportunity to defend themselves in court. Everyone is entitled to an assault defense attorney of their own, choosing who will fight for them. 

Assault and Firearms

Assaultive cases involving firearms or other deadly weapons frequently occur. Just pointing a firearm at another individual is a felonious assault, which is a very serious crime. It can also be committing a felony in possession of a firearm, which is punished by two years in prison. That shows how serious firearm assault of offenses can be therefore, their criminal defense must be taken very seriously and fought very zealously. There are often defenses like self-defense or defense of others that are generally not going to be in the police report because the police are almost always on the victim’s side. Who will be on the side of the defendant? The answer is their criminal assault defense attorney, and the best ones know how to discover the story of the defendant to identify the best trial strategy, even when firearms are involved. 

Self Defense

Self-defense is a very valid and often used strategy for defending assault cases. What is unique about the self-defense strategy is that prosecutors also have to prove that the defendant was not acting in self-defense, which makes it a very powerful defense. Police reports generally don’t deliver the evidence necessary to demonstrate self-defense, which is why an independent investigation should be had as early as possible.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Can a Person Conviction of Domestic Violence Carry a Firearm?
• How to Know if an Aggravated Assault Charge if a Felony
• Five Unexpected Consequences of a Domestic Violence Conviction
• Top Four Domestic Violence Defense Strategies 
• Questions About Self Defense
• What is the Difference Between Felonious Assault and Aggravated Assault?
• What is the Legal Proof Required for a Domestic Violence Case in Michigan?
• What is the Penalty for Assaulting a Police Officer?
• Simple vs. Aggravated Assault
• Statute of Limitations on Assault Cases
• Getting a Domestic Violence off Your Record

There are many different crime types of assault. Assaultive crimes cover a wide array of situations ranging from simple assault to violent crimes like assault with the intent to commit murder. Additionally, assault cases are taken very seriously by the court system, and many assaultive cases will go to trial. This means that when you’re considering which assault attorney in Michigan to hire, you should consider both their experience defending assault cases and their trial experience.

We have more than 20 years of experience in the courtroom, and we know how assault charges are prosecuted and we work tirelessly for our clients.

Facing an assault charge?  Request a free consultation now.

Get Assistance Understanding Your Assault Charges

There are many different categories of assault charges, and every case is unique. This can make structuring your defense complicated, and all angles must be thoroughly investigated and considered. Additionally, with the advent of new technologies, the laws and judicial practices surrounding assault are changing rapidly. With this in mind, our criminal defense attorneys take a detail-oriented approach.

Our assault attorneys can help with most assault-related cases, including:

• Felonious Assault
• Domestic Violence
• Assault and Battery
• Aggravated Stalking
• Unlawful internet posting
• Assault with intent to commit murder
• Assault with intent to cause great bodily harm

Depending on the charges you’re facing, the penalties for a conviction can involve both jail time and steep monetary fines. There are also several different approaches that can be taken by an assault attorney, including self-defense or defense of others. However, determining the best defense plan for you is crucial as every case is different.

Our attorneys work together as a team to thoroughly investigate your case, ensuring that all of your legal options are understood and explored. We also know how intimidating this process can be, and we’re always available for our clients.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are your qualifications and experience?

Practicing criminal law for over 20 years provides a significant opportunity and experience with regard to defending people accused of assault of related crimes. During these litigating, these cases, we have obtained a significant amount of experience, including many successful jury trial verdict. What is our experience that it assaulted cases the best way the way to get the best outcome is performing a very good investigation understanding All of the parties points of view, especially our clients  

What are the types of assault cases we handle?

We handle simple assault and battery domestic violence, felonious assault assault with intent to commit great bodily harm less than murder, strangulation stocking assault with intent to commit murder aggravated assault 

Our Success Rate in Defending Clients Charged with Assault Cases

Our success rate is very high. Admittedly, it’s hard to provide a metric because success is different in every case. We define success as results where our clients are happy, and could not have expected anything more or where we have exceeded expectations. Sometimes that’s winning completely outright other times it’s getting a good plea-bargain. Every case is different, but we have a high level of success as evidence by our high level of a high number of Google reviews. 

What are the Potential Penalties for Assault Charges?

The penalties that are generally accompany assault convictions will depend upon the severity of the offense and the exact conviction. Misdemeanor convictions can generally avoid jail time, but if the defendant’s prior criminal conviction, history will also be taken into consideration. Felony convictions, often do avoid involve jail sentences, and sometimes prison if there are firearms or dangerous weapons involved. Every case must be evaluated individually To determine what the likely penalty would be also phony convictions are subject to sentencing guidelines, which can be calculated and vary for every defendant 

What are Defense Strategies We May Employ?

Self defense or defense of others is an off as an often used defense strategy. Whether a dangerous weapon was used can also be important. There are also many different mitigation strategies that can be used which generally will seek to mitigate the criminal responsibility and some but oftentimes not able to when we’re not able to eliminate it.

What is the Process of Hiring an Assault Criminal Defense Lawyer?

Hiring the office of Barton Morris begins with a free consultation or we can hear some more details about the case. We can provide an initial defense strategy, but also explain why we think that we can do this in person over the phone or on zoom request your free consultation here.

Why is it Important to Have Legal Representation in Assault Cases ?

For an assault case, it is very important to have legal representation. It is highly recommended that that representation come in the form of a retained attorney. Generally, a retained attorney should be doing all of the work necessary to discover the true story of the case thereby being equipped with the most opportunity to create a good assault defense strategy.