An assault conviction will have serious consequences for you and your family. You could face fines and jail time, leaving you unable to work and support your family. Aside from you all missing each other, it will place an extra burden on your partner, who must care for any children you have alone and perhaps work extra to compensate for your lost income.
On top of that, you’ll have a criminal record – which could damage your prospects of finding future work. Understanding possible defense strategies is essential. Here are some you might use:
Mistaken identity
Let’s say the police charged you after breaking up a bar room brawl or an incident at a local festival. There may have been a lot of people involved or in the vicinity of the incident. The police may have made snap decisions and erroneously led you away in handcuffs. Perhaps you were present, but all you were doing was watching or trying to break the fight up – neither of which is a crime.
Alternatively, an eyewitness might have named you as an assailant, perhaps the alleged victim themself did – but people often identify the wrong person. Sometimes, they do so intentionally, as revenge for an earlier incident or to save themselves from getting the blame.
A breach of legal procedures
The police must follow guidelines when interviewing and arresting people. If you can show they breached these before or after the arrest, a court might decide that the evidence gained is inadmissible in court.
Self-defense
You are allowed to harm another person in specific cases where doing so is critical to your safety, that of another, or perhaps even the safety of a property. You’d need to show your reaction was reasonable and that the threat was real and immediate.
With appropriate help, you can determine if one of these or another defense strategy could work in your case.