Let a Federal Assault Lawyer Defend You

Under U.S. federal law, most individuals who are found guilty of assault end up serving time in prison, and not always for just a few years. Certain federal assault charges carry sentences lasting up to 10 or 20 years.

If you have been charged with assault of any type and need an assault defense attorney, the experts at the Zoukis Consulting Group are here to defend you against the charges.

However, if you’ve already been found guilty of assault in federal court and are soon to be sentenced, you might be concerned about what prison life will be like for you.

You could be housed with other inmates considered to be violent, and this may worry you because you don’t want to fall into trouble and get hurt.

At the Zoukis Consulting Group, we understand your fears and want to help. Going to prison is something you must do when you’ve been convicted of assault, but that doesn’t mean you have to spend your sentence constantly fearing for your safety.

Our consultants will advise you on everything from surviving the first day of your sentence to getting along with other prisoners.

Contact an assault lawyer at Zoukis Consulting Group today to start your initial consultation and get advice from someone who’s been right where you are now.

In the meantime, you can read below to learn about the different kinds of assault and what the federal punishments are for each.

What Constitutes an Assault?

To begin in the most general terms, the crime of assault refers to the act of causing someone else to fear for his or her physical safety. Assault does not necessarily mean that one party literally attacks and harms another.

An example of assault could be striking another person with the intent to cause harm or kill. And yet, another example could be nothing more than brandishing a firearm at someone, whether the person intends to shoot or not.

The severity of an assault can increase depending on the special offense characteristics involved. At the federal level, each crime has a base level and then multiple levels over it as the heinousness of the crime increases.

These characteristics could be anything from a firearm being discharged during the assault to the victim suffering life-threatening injuries. More severe offenses carry stronger sentences.

Now that you have a basic overview of what assault is, let’s get more specific and learn about the different types of assault covered under the U.S. Code.

Assault with Intent to Commit Murder; Attempted Murder

U.S. law permits prosecutors to bring charges against those who failed to carry out their intended crimes.

This is why the U.S. Code contains offenses such as “assault with intent to commit murder; attempted murder.”

It is important to remember at the outset that an assault becomes a federal crime if it occurs on federal land or other property, such as a U.S. ship at sea. U.S. states have their own laws for assault crimes.

With that in mind, we come to the first type of federal assault charge: assault with intent to commit murder; attempted murder.

These charges are fairly self-explanatory: they constitute assaults that were designed to kill someone but ultimately failed in the attempt.

To take a blatantly obvious example of this: a man would probably be charged with assault with intent to commit murder or attempted murder if he took a knife and started slashing at someone with the intent to kill but was apprehended by police before he could commit the murder.

Under U.S. federal law, persons found guilty of assault with intent to commit murder or attempted murder can be punished by a fine and a prison sentence of up to 20 years.

Having a good assault attorney by your side in court can be the deciding factor in how much time you serve.

If you’ve already been sentenced, don’t forget that the experts at the Zoukis Consulting Group are available to advise you on what to expect and how to get through your prison sentence as successfully as possible.

Aggravated Assault

Meanwhile, aggravated assault is the crime of causing or attempting to cause serious bodily harm to someone. In court, prosecutors must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant caused or fully intended to cause this harm.

If the defendant can be shown to have known the consequences of the action and clearly wanted to do it, then that defendant will likely be found guilty of aggravated assault.

Aggravated assault differs from attempted murder in the intentions of each act. Attempted murder is a premeditated endeavor to kill, but one that ultimately fails. Aggravated assault may be a spur-of-the-moment incident, but the perpetrator is still aware of his or her actions and wants to cause serious bodily harm.

U.S. federal law does not specifically cover “aggravated assault,” but assault convictions in which the incident caused the victim serious bodily harm carry prison sentences of up to 10 years.

Assault

Moving down the line of severity, we will now cover the crime of assault or simple assault.

As the name might suggest, this kind of assault is less severe than assault with intent to commit murder or aggravated assault. Simple assault is defined as an assault causing minor injury or involving only a minimal threat to use violence.

Simple assault may or may not involve actual physical contact with another person. It could be threatening to hurt someone. It could also be trying to strike someone but failing.

As with other cases of assault, it must be shown that you intended to cause harm and that the victim truly feared for his or her safety.

Under federal law, simple assault carries a sentence of a fine and up to six months in prison. However, if the victim was under age 16 at the time, the sentence may be up to one year in prison.

Obstructing or Impeding Officers

The final type of assault that could land you in federal prison is obstructing or impeding officers who are in the course of executing their duties in the service of the U.S. government.

This crime refers to the forcible and potentially violent intimidation of, opposition to, or interference with any kind of federal law enforcement officer or former federal law enforcement officer.

The U.S. code dictates several punishments for obstructing or impeding officers, depending on whether the assault qualifies as simple assault or a more serious attempt to cause bodily harm. In the case of simple assault, the punishment is a fine and up to one year in prison. In more serious cases of violence, the punishment is a fine and up to eight years in prison.

Hire an Assault Lawyer from the Zoukis Consulting Group

If you have been charged with any kind of assault and need a lawyer, or if you have been convicted of assault and are going to federal prison soon, the Zoukis Consulting Group can help.

We’ll be your assault defense attorney in court if you need one. We can also counsel you on surviving life inside federal prison. Our leader, Christopher Zoukis, knows what it’s like in prison and has written plenty of resources on how to make it through your sentence unscathed.

Prison life doesn’t have to be scary. It’s all about knowing what to do. Our consultants can help.

Reach out to us today to get a case evaluation and hire a lawyer for assault.