A Former Prosecutor And Criminal Law Expert

Violent crimes are those in which force or the threat of force is used against victims and may be committed both with and without a weapon. These crimes may be committed against a targeted victim, as in the case of murder, or as part of another crime, as in an armed robbery in which a victim is harmed or killed.

Examples of violent crimes include assault, assault on a family member (domestic violence), terroristic threat, stalking, harassment, deadly conduct, robbery, aggravated assault, injury to a child/elderly, aiding suicide, attempted murder, violation of protective orders, sexual assault, kidnapping, aggravated robbery, solicitation of capital murder, murder and capital murder.

Assaultive offenses are some of the most challenging cases handled by criminal defense attorneys. Because these types of crimes often involve seriously injured victims, or victims of a specially protected class such as children or the elderly, a person charged with an assaultive crime often finds himself the target of a very determined prosecutor seeking lengthy confinement.

The list of available defenses to assaultive offenses is lengthy. Faulty eyewitness identifications, poor DNA laboratory work, alibis, self-defense situations, and faulty conclusions by investigating officers or witnesses can all be areas that a qualified defense attorney must explore.