Assault & Threat Crimes

Assault & Threat Crimes

You got charged last week — maybe simple assault after a bar fight in Jersey City where you punched someone causing a bloody nose, maybe aggravated assault after a domestic violence incident where you allegedly struck your partner with a frying pan causing a fracture, maybe terroristic threats after an argument with your ex where you sent text messages saying “I’ll kill you” and they reported it to police. You don’t know whether you’re facing a disorderly persons offense in municipal court with six months maximum jail or an indictable offense in Superior Court with years in state prison. You don’t know if this conviction will cost you your job, show up on background checks forever, or mean mandatory prison time.

Thanks for visiting Spodek Law Group — a second-generation law firm managed by Todd Spodek. We’ve represented clients charged with assault and threat crimes for over 40 years, defended cases at New Jersey municipal courts for simple assault, defended aggravated assault prosecutions at county Superior Courts. We defend assault and threat cases with the same constitutional rigor Alan Dershowitz brought to Claus von Bülow: challenge the evidence, challenge intent, demand prosecutors prove every element beyond reasonable doubt. Call 212-300-5196, 24/7.

Simple Assault vs. Aggravated Assault — The Difference Between Jail and Prison

What’s the difference? Simple assault under N.J.S.A. 2C:12-1(a) is a disorderly persons offense — up to six months in county jail, $1,000 fine, handled in your local municipal court. Simple assault occurs when you attempt to cause or purposely, knowingly, or recklessly cause bodily injury to another person, or when you negligently cause bodily injury with a deadly weapon, or when you physically menace another by putting them in fear of imminent serious bodily injury. Common scenarios: bar fights, shoving matches, domestic disputes involving minor physical contact, threatening gestures. If the assault occurred during a fight entered into by mutual consent it’s downgraded to a petty disorderly persons offense — maximum 30 days jail, $500 fine.

Aggravated assault under N.J.S.A. 2C:12-1(b) is indictable — state prison, not county jail. Aggravated assault occurs when you cause serious bodily injury purposely or knowingly, when you attempt to cause or purposely or knowingly cause bodily injury with a deadly weapon, when you cause bodily injury while fleeing police, or when you assault certain protected persons including police officers, firefighters, EMTs, teachers, or judges. The grading depends on circumstances. Fourth-degree aggravated assault: up to eighteen months in state prison, $10,000 fine. Third-degree aggravated assault: three to five years in state prison, $15,000 fine. Second-degree aggravated assault: five to ten years in state prison, $150,000 fine, and the No Early Release Act requiring you to serve 85% of the sentence before parole eligibility.

Can you get aggravated assault downgraded to simple assault? Yes — if the alleged injury doesn’t meet the “serious bodily injury” definition, if the weapon wasn’t actually a deadly weapon, if you didn’t have the required mental state (purposely or knowingly). Prosecutors initially file aggravated assault charges in municipal court, then forward them to the county prosecutor’s office. A prosecutor reviews the case file and decides whether to present it to a grand jury for indictment or downgrade it back to municipal court as a disorderly persons offense. Your lawyer’s job: convince the prosecutor the evidence doesn’t support the enhanced elements.

Terroristic Threats vs. Harassment — When Words Become Crimes

Terroristic threats under N.J.S.A. 2C:12-3 is a third-degree indictable offense — three to five years in state prison, $15,000 fine. The statute requires you threatened to commit any crime of violence with the purpose to terrorize another person or to cause evacuation of a building. The key element: purpose to terrorize, not merely to anger or annoy. Examples: threatening to kill someone and reasonably causing them to fear for their life, making bomb threats, threatening to harm students at a school, workplace violence threats, threats to harm public officials.

The threat must be a “true threat” under First Amendment analysis — not merely political hyperbole, jest, or protected speech. Courts look at whether a reasonable person would interpret the statement as expressing serious intent to harm. “I’ll kill you” said during a heated argument with no follow-up action is different from “I’ll kill you, I know where you live, I have a gun” with evidence you were purchasing weapons. Context matters.

Harassment under N.J.S.A. 2C:33-4 is less serious — petty disorderly persons offense, maximum 30 days jail, $500 fine. Harassment occurs when with purpose to harass another you make offensive communications anonymously or at extremely inconvenient hours or in offensively coarse language, subject another to striking or kicking or shoving, or engage in any course of alarming conduct with purpose to alarm or seriously annoy. The difference between terroristic threats and harassment: purpose to terrorize versus purpose to annoy, and severity of the threatened harm.

Your Defense Options When Charged with Assault or Threats

What defenses apply?

Self-defense is your strongest defense if applicable where you reasonably believed you faced imminent unlawful force and used proportional force to protect yourself, New Jersey law recognizes self-defense and defense of others and defense of property, the key is reasonableness meaning did you reasonably believe force was necessary and was the force you used proportional to the threat, if someone shoved you and you responded by shooting them that’s not proportional but if someone attacked you with a knife and you defended yourself with a bat that’s likely proportional, and lack of intent defeats purpose or knowing mental state requirements so for terroristic threats if you didn’t have purpose to terrorize meaning your statement was angry venting or hyperbole or jest then you’re not guilty, for aggravated assault if you didn’t purposely or knowingly cause serious bodily injury meaning it was reckless or negligent conduct that resulted in injury then the charge should be downgraded to simple assault or reckless endangerment, and false accusation defenses apply when the alleged victim fabricated the claims or misidentified you which happens frequently in domestic violence cases during custody disputes or divorce proceedings where the alleged victim has motive to fabricate because they want custody or they want you out of the house or they want leverage in divorce negotiations, your lawyer investigates whether there are text messages or emails showing the alleged victim threatened to call police if you didn’t comply with their demands, whether there are prior false accusations, whether the alleged victim’s story is consistent or changes over time, and First Amendment protection applies to threat charges when the alleged threat is political speech or protected expression because not every scary statement is a “true threat” since context and tone and surrounding circumstances matter, courts balance First Amendment rights against the government’s interest in preventing violence and intimidation, and if you were arrested for simple assault you’ll appear in municipal court within a few weeks for arraignment where the judge reads the charges and you enter a plea almost always “not guilty” initially to preserve your options and the judge sets conditions for release if you weren’t already released, then discovery process begins where the prosecutor provides police reports and witness statements and medical records if injury occurred and video evidence if available, your lawyer reviews discovery and identifies defense issues and negotiates with prosecutor, typical resolution for simple assault first offense is pretrial intervention program PTI if you’re eligible or plea to municipal ordinance violation instead of criminal offense or dismissal if evidence is weak, PTI requires you to complete probation supervision period usually six to twelve months plus anger management counseling and you pay fees, if you complete PTI successfully charges are dismissed and your record is expunged like the arrest never happened, and if you were charged with aggravated assault or terroristic threats the case starts in municipal court but gets forwarded to county prosecutor’s office for grand jury presentation, grand jury decides whether to indict, if indicted you’re arraigned in Superior Court and enter plea and begin discovery, typical timeline runs eight to fourteen months from arrest to resolution, possible resolutions include PTI if eligible and prosecutor approves or plea agreement to reduced charges or trial if no acceptable plea offer exists, and for aggravated assault second-degree with serious bodily injury expect prosecutors to offer plea agreements with prison recommendations of two to four years with 85% required before parole, for terroristic threats third-degree expect plea offers with probation or county jail if you have no criminal history but prison recommendations if you have prior violent offenses, your lawyer’s job is negotiate the best possible resolution or take the case to trial if prosecution can’t meet their burden of proof, you got charged with assault or threats, you’re facing jail or prison, you need someone who knows the difference between simple assault and aggravated assault, knows when self-defense applies, knows how to challenge intent elements, knows county prosecutors and municipal prosecutors throughout New Jersey — call 212-300-5196.