FEDERAL CRIMINAL LAWYERS

NYC Assault in the Second Degree Defense | NY Penal Law 120.05 Attorneys

So your probably sitting in a jail cell right now after getting arrested for assault second degree, or maybe your out on bail and googling what the hell your facing. Maybe it was a bar fight that got out of hand. Maybe your ex is lying about what happened. Or maybe you were just defending yourself and now YOUR the one with charges. Look, we get it. Your ABSOLUTELY TERRIFIED. And you know what? You should be! Because assault second degree means MANDATORY PRISON TIME under NY Penal Law §120.05!

What Is the Mandatory Minimum Sentence for Assault Second Degree in NY?

Let me be brutally honest with you about what your facing here. Assault in the second degree is a Class D violent felony, and that word “violent” changes everything. If your convicted, the judge has absolutely ZERO discretion – they MUST send you to state prison for a minimum of 2 years. Not county jail. Not some work-release program. STATE PRISON. And that’s if your lucky! The maximum sentence is 7 years behind bars. Plus up to $5,000 in fines. Plus an order of protection that could last for years. Plus probation after you get out. We’ve literally seen judges apologize while sentencing people because there hands are completely tied by these mandatory minimums. Think about what 2 years minimum really means. Your job? Gone. No employer waits that long. Your apartment? Gone. Can’t pay rent from prison. Your kids? Might end up in foster care. Your entire life basicaly falls apart while your locked up. And thats the MINIMUM according to New York’s violent felony sentencing guidelines.

Can You Avoid Jail Time for Assault in the Second Degree?

Alot of people think they can just get probation or community service, especialy if its there first offense. Let me crush that dream right now – if your convicted of assault second degree, you CANNOT avoid prison. The law literaly doesn’t allow it. There’s no drug program alternative. No weekend jail. No house arrest with an ankle moniter. Nothing. The ONLY ways to avoid that mandatory 2 years are to beat the charges completely. That means getting evidence thrown out for illegal searches. Proving self-defense. Showing the injuries weren’t actually “serious physical injury” as defined by law. Or negotiating the charges down to assault third degree, which doesn’t have mandatory prison time. We’ve helped clients avoid prison, but it takes aggressive defense work from day one. You can’t sit around hoping the prosecutor will be nice – they won’t. There job is to convict you and send you to prison. The system is designed to get convictions, not to be fair.

What’s the Difference Between Assault Second and Third Degree?

This is literally the difference between freedom and prison, and its all about how bad the injuries were and what you used to cause them. Third degree assault is a misdemeanor – you might get probation, maybe some jail time but not state prison. The judge has options. But second degree? That’s when you either cause “serious physical injury” to someone OR you cause any injury using a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument. Once you cross that line, everything changes. Its a violent felony with MANDATORY prison time. No alternatives allowed. Here’s what makes it even more insane – “serious physical injury” can be subjective. A broken nose might be serious or might not be, depending on the prosecutor and judge. Same with cuts that need stitches. We’ve seen cases where the exact same injuries get charged as third degree in one courtroom and second degree in another. The difference? One defendant goes home on probation, the other goes to state prison for 2+ years.

What If the Person Hit Me First – Is It Still Assault?

This is probably the most common thing we hear – “But they started it!” or “I was just defending myself!” And you know what? You might have a legitimate self-defense claim under NY Penal Law §35.15. If someone punched you first and you punched back to protect yourself, thats potentially self-defense. BUT – and this is a huge but – there are alot of ways self-defense claims fail. If you used more force than necessary (like using a weapon when they just pushed you), your screwed. If you had a chance to walk away but chose to fight instead, your screwed. If you said something that provoked the fight, your probably screwed. If you hit them back after the threat was over (revenge, not defense), definately screwed. The prosecution will twist everything. They’ll say you could have left. They’ll find witnesses who say you threw the first punch. They’ll use security footage that only shows part of what happened. We’ve seen completly innocent people get convicted because they couldn’t prove self-defense beyond a reasonable doubt. The burden is on YOU to prove it was self-defense, not on them to prove it wasn’t.

What Happens If It Was a Bar Fight?

Bar fights are there own special nightmare when it comes to assault charges. First off, everyone was probably drunk, which means witness testimony is garbage. Second, bars have security cameras but they don’t always show everything clearly. Third, being drunk is NOT a defense – voluntary intoxication doesn’t excuse assault. In bar fight cases, prosecutors love to argue that verbal arguments escalated to physical fights, proving intent. They’ll say you chose to engage instead of walking away. They’ll use the fact that alcohol was involved to show poor judgment. And if you have any prior arrests for fighting or disorderly conduct? They’ll paint you as someone with anger issues who can’t control themselves when drinking. We’ve defended hundreds of bar fight assault cases. The key is getting witness statements immediately (before people forget or disappear), getting ALL the security footage (not just what the prosecution wants to show), and documenting any injuries YOU suffered. But you need to move fast – witnesses vanish, video gets deleted, and bruises heal. Every day you wait makes the case harder to win.

Can Intoxication Be Used as a Defense?

Let me be crystal clear about this because alot of people get it wrong – being drunk or high is NEVER a defense to assault in New York. It doesn’t matter if you were blackout drunk. Doesn’t matter if someone drugged you without your knowledge (unless you can prove it). Doesn’t matter if you “didn’t mean to” because you were wasted. The law says voluntary intoxication is not a defense to ANY crime. Period. In fact, being drunk often makes things WORSE because prosecutors use it to show you have poor impulse control and make dangerous decisions. Judges hate the “I was drunk” excuse. Juries hate it even more. The only time intoxication might help is if someone literally forced alcohol or drugs into your system against your will, or if you had an unexpected reaction to prescribed medication. But those situations are incredibly rare and hard to prove. Don’t count on intoxication helping your case – it won’t.

What Are the Long-Term Consequences of an Assault Conviction?

Even after you serve your mandatory prison time, your life is basicaly ruined. A violent felony conviction follows you FOREVER. Here’s just some of what your looking at according to NYC Criminal Justice Agency data: Employment? Forget it. Who’s gonna hire someone with a violent felony? Most jobs run background checks, and “assault second degree” screams “dangerous employee.” Professional licenses (nursing, teaching, real estate, etc.) get revoked. Many careers become impossible. Housing? Good luck. NYCHA has strict policies against violent felons. Private landlords run background checks too. You might end up living in the worst neighborhoods because there the only places that’ll take you. Federal benefits? Kiss them goodbye. No federal student loans to go back to school. Potentially no food stamps or public assistance. Definitely no gun ownership – ever. If your not a U.S. citizen, you’ll probably get deported after prison. Then there’s parole – usualy 2-5 years of having your life controlled. Weekly check-ins. Random drug tests. Can’t leave the state without permission. One violation sends you back to prison. Its like your still locked up, just with a longer leash.

What Evidence Can Get Thrown Out in Assault Cases?

This is where having an experienced attorney matters most. If we can get key evidence suppressed, the whole case could collapse regardless of what actually happened. We look for Fourth Amendment violations – illegal stops, searches without probable cause, evidence obtained without warrants. Did the cops have a real reason to arrest you or did they just show up and take one person’s word? Did they read you your Miranda rights before questioning? Did they keep interrogating after you asked for a lawyer? Did they make promises to get you to talk? All of these could get statements thrown out. We also attack witness credibility. Were they drunk? Do they have a reason to lie (ex-girlfriend, someone your suing, someone who owes you money)? Are there inconsistencies in there statements? We’ve won cases where three “witnesses” told three completly different stories about what happened. Physical evidence can have problems too. Was the medical report accurate about the injuries? Did they photograph bruises that were already there from something else? Is there video that contradicts what witnesses claim? One mistake in how evidence was handled could mean the difference between prison and freedom.

Why Spodek Law Group for Assault Second Degree Cases?

Look, we’re not gonna sugarcoat this – assault second degree cases are brutal to fight. Alot of attorneys just want you to take a plea deal because trials are hard work and risky. They’ll tell you to accept the mandatory minimum because “it could be worse.” That’s not how we operate. We actually fight these cases. We hire private investigators to find witnesses the cops ignored. We get medical experts to challenge injury claims. We file aggressive motions to suppress evidence. We know every prosecutor in New York and exactly how they operate. We’ve taken assault cases to trial and won when other firms wouldn’t even try. More importantly, we treat you like family, not just another case number. We know your whole life is on the line – your freedom, your family, your future. We answer calls at 2am because we know your probably not sleeping anyway. We visit you in jail if your stuck there. We fight for every single day of freedom we can get you.

Call us RIGHT NOW at 212-300-5196
We answer 24/7 because arrests happen at ALL hours!

Don’t wait another day! Don’t talk to the cops! Don’t think this will blow over! Every single day you wait, evidence disappears, witnesses forget things, and the prosecution builds there case. The sooner we start fighting, the better chance you have of avoiding that MANDATORY PRISON SENTENCE. Remember – the difference between second degree and third degree assault could mean the difference between 2+ years in state prison or walking free on probation. Let us fight for that difference. Let us fight to keep you home with your family where you belong. Your freedom is literally on the line here!

Disclaimer: Past results don’t guarantee future outcomes, but we promise to fight harder than any other firm. We know what mandatory minimums mean for your life.