The crime of assaulting an officer is taken very seriously in Fredericksburg. It is a felony offense and, the charge can also create a negative reputation for you amongst local law enforcement. Furthermore, assault penalties can have ramifications on your personal and professional life. If you have been charged with assaulting an officer, you need to call an experienced Fredericksburg assault attorney. A skilled Fredericksburg attorney will able to help you build your case, and can help mitigate the severe Fredericksburg assault on an officer penalties you may face.
When one is dealing with a class 6 felony assault on a law enforcement officer, an individual must remember that it is a felony. An attorney must deal with the felony but also at the same time, especially with the smaller assault on law enforcement officers, it can be six months in jail for somebody who has never been to jail before. Such severe Fredericksburg assault on an officer penalties can seem unnecessarily harsh. The stakes are a lot higher for individuals charged with this offense because most people do not expect that to be that serious but it is taken that seriously.
If the officer acted outside of the scope of their position so they are acting in a capacity that is not as a law enforcement officer, it depends on what they are in fact doing because if they are doing something that essentially would be otherwise illegal and nobody knows what is going on, that goes into the individual’s knowledge or reason to know that the person is, in fact, a law enforcement officer.
If a person is a law enforcement officer and they are also working as a security guard, if they decide to wear a shirt that says security, they are not displaying their badge of authority, and they go out there busting heads, well then they are going to take this assault like anybody because nobody knows they are law enforcement.
However, if they are a security guard, working as security off duty, but they are displaying their badge of authority, they have worn their uniform, they have their firearm on their hip, even if they are technically off the clock or off duty, if somebody assaults them, they will still be charged with assaulting police officer.
It all depends on what that outside activity is and the appearance of the officer as well. If a person is dressed up in a police officer’s uniform, displaying their badge, and has a firearm on their person but they are doing things that are clearly illegal, then people have reason to believe that they are not, in fact, a police officer. Or, people have reason to assume that they are acting so far outside of their scope as a police officer that the officer would definitely lose the protection of the law provides.
Fredericksburg assault on an officer penalties can be quite severe. An individual can assault a lay person a million times, and it would only be class 1 misdemeanor, there is never a mandatory time, and it is not a felony. The moment that a person spits on a police officer, they are looking at a mandatory minimum to six months in jail, they are looking at a class 6 felony, looking at up to five years in jail, looking at losing their right to vote, looking at losing their right to possess a firearm, and looking at having their future destroyed. Police officers are put on a higher standard as far as the crime is concerned in protecting them from subtle things, they do not even do that for lay people. Class 6 felonies are zero to five years technically but have a six-month mandatory minimum.
The use of police body cameras protect both the officers and the individuals because it takes away the subjectivity of the case and everything comes objective. With body cameras, the court can see what actually happened. Body camera footage can help the trier of fact decide whether this is a crime or not based solely on what the objective facts are. The tape speaks for itself and it is beneficial to all parties because either a person knows exactly what they are going to get when they go to court, and they do not have to worry about stories changing because it is all right there in black and white.
It also helps as far as when one is negotiating things with the client or with the Commonwealth, showing the client, who was drunk at the time and who does not remember anything. What a person remembers is on record and if it shows that spitting on a police officer and punching them in the kidneys, it helps for the defense counsel because they know exactly what they are dealing with. They can also get the client to understand what exactly they are looking at and how they should go about taking pleas or pleading not guilty and having a trial.
A skilled lawyer can examine the facts of your case, and try to collect evidence in order to build your case. Evidence like body camera footage, which is an objective record of what happened, can help an individual avoid Fredericksburg assault on an officer penalties. If you have been charged with assaulting an officer, get in touch with a capable defense attorney who will devote the necessary time and resources to your case.
Northern Virginia Criminal Defense Group
