New York Penal Law 120 – Assault Crimes
While it can be complicated and at times confusing to sift through the mountain of legalese that is New York penal law, it doesn’t have to be that way. In this article we’ll take you through assault crimes in New York step by step so that everything will become much clearer for you. First up is assault in the second degree.
Assault in the second degree
Now in order to be guilty of assault in the second degree, you’ll have had to cause serious physical injury to someone else with the intent to do so, or you’ll have to have caused said injury to someone or even a third person by using a deadly weapon or else some sort of dangerous weapon. Another way you can be charged with this crime is if you caused this physical injury (of course, with the intention to cause this injury, this doesn’t apply if it was accidental) to a peace officer, police officer, prosecutor, or other public official or person who is in some way employed by the government. Assault in the second degree is considered to be a class D felony.
Gang assault in the second degree.
In order to be guilty of the next crime on our list, you’ll have to have caused some serious physical injury to someone, with the intent to do so, while you’re being helped by two or more people who are present for what’s going on, and you had to have actually caused this injury to that person, or else to a third person. If you’re convicted of gang assault in the second degree, you’ll be looking at facing a class C felony.
Gang assault in the first degree
You’re considered guilty of gang assault in the first degree when and if you cause serious physical injury to someone or even to a third person with the intention to cause this serious physical injury, and if and only if you’re being helped by two or more people who are actually there as well. Gang assault in the first degree’s considered to be a class B felony.
Assault on a peace officer, police officer, fireman or emergency medical services professional
In order to be guilty of assault on a peace officer, police officer, fireman or emergency medical services professional, you’ll have to have caused serious physical injury to one of the aforementioned professionals with the intent to prevent them from administering first aid, or else otherwise carrying out their duties. Now in this case, assault on a peace officer, police officer, fireman or emergency medical services professional is considered a class C felony.
Assault on a judge
You’re considered guilty of assault on a judge when you cause some sort of serious physical injury to a judge with the actual intent of causing this injury. And again, you’re considered guilty of this crime if you’re doing this in order to prevent this judge from carrying out their duties. This particular charge is punishable as a class C felony.
Assault in the first degree.
Next on our list is assault in the first degree. In order to be guilty of this crime, there are three possibilities at play. In the first, you will have had to cause some sort of serious physical injury to another person by using a deadly weapon or some other sort of dangerous instrument. The second way you can be charged for this crime is if you cause some sort of injury with the intent of disfiguring someone else seriously and permanently, or to amputate, destroy, or otherwise permanently disable a member or organ of his or her body. The third and final way you can be charged with this crime is to recklessly engage in conduct that creates some sort of grave risk of death to someone else and go ahead and cause serious physical injury to someone else, all under circumstances that demonstrate what’s considered a “depraved indifference to human life.” This crime is actually a class B felony.
Aggravated assault upon a police officer or a peace officer
Next we have aggravated assault upon a police officer or a peace officer. What this basically means is that you would have to use a deadly weapon or some other dangerous instrument to cause some serious physical injury to someone you know, or really should know is a police officer or peace officer who’s trying to perform his or her official duties. And again, you’ll have to have done this with the intent to actually cause this harm to them. This crime is a class B felony.
Aggravated assault upon a person less than eleven years old
Last on our list is aggravated assault upon a person less than eleven years old. You’re guilty of this if you’re older than eighteen and you commit the crime of assault in the third degree on someone who’s younger than eleven, and if you’ve previously been convicted of such a crime on someone under eleven years old in the past ten years. This crime is considered to be a class E felony.
So as you can see, you don’t have to necessarily sift through a mountain of legalese just to understand the complexities of New York penal law.