Rhode Island Felony Assault/ADW Lawyer
Felony Assault/ADW
If you are arrested in Rhode Island for a Felony Assault or an Assault with a Dangerous Weapon, (ADW) you need an experienced criminal defense lawyer that will help you get your Feloney Assault charge or ADW charge dismissed or reduced to a lesser charge. A good criminal defense lawyer will know that there are many potential defenses for felony assault and ADW charges including self- defense, and defense of others. However, assault cases vary according to the individual fact patterns in each case.
Rhode Island criminal defense attorney Michael J. Zarrella is a trained assault with a deadly weapon defense attorney and will be able to help you navigate through the judgical system and ensure that your rights are properly protected.
The difference between Felony Assault and Assault with a Dangerous Weapon, (ADW).
Under the Rhode Island Felony Assault Statute, a person can be convicted two different ways of a felony assault. The first way a person can be convicted of an ADW is when a person commits an assault or battery with a dangerous weapon. In other words, it is based on how the assault was commited. The second felony assault conviction arises when a person sustains serious bodily injury as a result of the assault. This felony assault is based on the injury. Both crimes can carry up to a sentence of 20 years in jail.
Felony assault:
A felony assault occurs when an indivdual receives serious bodily injury from an assault. Serious bodily injury can occur in the following three different ways:
•Creates a substantial risk of death;
•Causes protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily part, member or organ; and or
•Causes serious permanent disfigurement or circumcises, excises or infibulates the whole or any part of the labia majora or labia minora or clitoris of a person.
There are many cases in which a person may be injured badly but the injuries do not amount to a felony assault. An experienced felony assault lawyer will be able to properly defend against a conviction of felony assault by arguing that the injuries do rise to requiste levels to support a charge of felony assault.
Assault with a Dangerous Weapon, (ADW)
An Assault with a Dangerous Weapon or ADW occurs when a person shall make an assault or battery on another with a dangerous weapon. Typically, deadly weapons are something obvious like a gun, knife or a bat. However, everyday objects or instruments will qualify when used in ways that are likely to result in severe harm to another. Many times the Rhode Island Attorney General's office will charge people with an ADW with a shod foot, pencil or any other object that can cause damage if used right.
Rhode Island Penalites for Feloney Assault and ADW
§ 11-5-2 Felony assault. – (a) Every person who shall make an assault or battery, or both, with a dangerous weapon, or with acid or other dangerous substance, or by fire, or an assault or battery which results in serious bodily injury, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than twenty (20) years.
(b) Where the provisions of "The Domestic Violence Prevention Act", chapter 29 of title 12, are applicable, the penalties for violation of this section shall also include the penalties as provided in § 12-29-5.
(c) "Serious bodily injury" means physical injury that:
(1) Creates a substantial risk of death;
(2) Causes protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily part, member or organ; or
(3) Causes serious permanent disfigurement or circumcises, excises or infibulates the whole or any part of the labia majora or labia minora or clitoris of a person.
§ 11-5-2.1 Felony assault by use of devices similar in appearance to a firearm. – (a) Every person who shall make an assault or battery, or both, with any device manufactured and designed to be substantially similar in appearance to a firearm shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than ten (10) years if serious injury results, and in the event that serious bodily injury does not result, punishment shall be imprisonment for not more than three (3) years.
(b) "Serious bodily injury" means physical injury that:
(1) Creates a substantial risk of death;
(2) Causes protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily part, member or organ; or
(3) Causes serious permanent disfigurement.
§ 11-5-4 Assault with dangerous weapon in dwelling house. – Whoever, being armed with a dangerous weapon, assaults another with intent to rob or murder, shall, if the assault is committed within a dwelling house, be punished by imprisonment in the adult correctional institution for not less than ten (10) years to life.
No matter what your situation, the risks are too great to try to protect yourself against an assault with a deadly weapon charge without a criminal lawyer.
Defend yourself, contact attorney Michael J. Zarrella, now!