Not Guilty in Essex County 2nd Degree Aggravated Assault Trial
On Monday November 8, 2010, we are happy to announce a great success story for one of our clients who stood trial in Essex County on 2nd degree Aggravated Assault charges, as well as Unlawful Possession of a Weapon and Possession of a Weapon for an Unlawful Purpose charges.
Our client was involved in an altercation and was attacked by a 63 year old man with a pair of hedge clippers. In defending himself, he sought to ward off the attacker by wielding a PVC pipe, which unfortunately blinded the attacker. Our client was charged with 2nd degree Aggravated Assault in violation of N.J.S.A 2C:12-1(b), Unlawful Possession of a Weapon in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:39-5(d) and Possession of a Weapon for an Unlawful Purpose in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:39-4(d).
After a 5 day jury trial my client was found not guilty an all charges including the lesser included offenses of Aggravated Assault with Significant Bodily Injury in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:12-1b(7), Simple Assault (N.J.S.A. 2C:12-1a(1) and Simple Assault Mutual Fighting in violation of N.J.S.A. 2C:12-1a(1).
On behalf of my client I was able to mount a successful self defense strategy and the jury reached a unanimous not guilty verdict! It was nice to see a jury do the right thing and listen carefully to both sides of a story, judge the credibility of witnesses properly and reach a just conclusion. My best wishes and thoughts go out to my client who is now fully enjoying his freedom for the first time in over a year.
