New Jersey statutes define over twenty distinct ways in which a person can be guilty of assault. New Jersey defines simple assaults, and New Jersey defines aggravated assaults. Factors that influence the particular variety of aggravated assault include the seriousness of the injury; whether a weapon was involved; the mental state of the actor, that is, whether the was act committed purposely, knowingly, or recklessly; and the status of the victim. Status factors include whether the victim was a law enforcement officer, a fireman, an EMS provider, a school official, a judge; or whether the incident occurred at a sports event; and on and on and on. Any assault other than a “simple assault” is an “aggravated assault.” New Jersey defines some activities to be simple assaults and some to be aggravated assaults even when no injury at all occurred. No-injury assaults, both simple and aggravated, can occur even when no injury was even intended.

All aggravated assaults in New Jersey are crimes. However, depending on the particular factor or factors that elevate a simple assault into an aggravated assault, the aggravated assault can be an aggravated assault of the second degree, third degree, or fourth degree.

One of the more serious types of aggravated assault that New Jersey defines is aggravated assault associated with serious bodily injury. Serious bodily injury aggravated assault is a crime of the second degree. This is perhaps the type of aggravated assault that one traditionally envisions when aggravated assault is mentioned without qualifiers.

Delineating all the types of aggravated assault would be a monstrous task. Moreover, were all the different types included, this page would likely put most readers to sleep. Accordingly, this page limits itself to just the “traditional” type of aggravated assault, namely serious bodily injury aggravated assault. We emphasize, however, that ALL assault charges are serious, and require immediate consultation with an experienced criminal defense lawyer. We will return to that subject at the end of this page.

The relevant statute is N.J.S. 2C:12-1b(1). That statute specifies that a person is guilty of aggravated assault if he attempts to cause serious bodily injury to another, or causes such injury purposely or knowingly or, under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life, recklessly causes such injury. Under this statute, a defendant can be found guilty if he EITHER caused serious bodily injury to another OR attempted to cause serious bodily injury to another.

To find a defendant guilty of aggravated assault for causing serious bodily injury to another, New Jersey must prove beyond a reasonable doubt each of the following elements:

1. That the defendant caused serious bodily injury to another; and

2. That the defendant acted purposely or knowingly or acted recklessly under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life.

“Serious bodily injury” means bodily injury which creates a substantial risk of death or which causes serious permanent disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ.

The second element that New Jersey must prove beyond a reasonable doubt is that the defendant acted purposely or knowingly or acted recklessly under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life.

A person acts purposely with respect to the result of his conduct if it is his conscious object to cause such a result. A person acts purposely if he acts with design, with a specific intent, with a particular object or purpose, or if he means to do what he does, that is, “I did it on purpose.”

A person acts knowingly with respect to the result of his conduct if he is aware that it is practically certain that his conduct will cause such a result.

A person acts recklessly with respect to the result of his conduct if he consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the result will occur from his conduct. The risk must be of such a nature and degree that, considering the nature and purpose of the actor's conduct and the circumstances known to the actor, its disregard involves a gross deviation from the standard of conduct that a reasonable person would observe in the actor's situation. One is said to act recklessly if one acts with recklessness, with scorn for the consequences, heedlessly, fool-hardily.

The phrase “under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life” does not focus on the state of mind of the actor but, rather, on the circumstances under which he acted. If, in light of all the evidence, the conduct of the defendant resulted in a probability as opposed to a mere possibility of serous bodily injury, then a jury can find that he acted under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life.

In determining whether a defendant acted purposely or knowingly or acted recklessly under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life, a jury may consider the nature of the act itself and the severity of the resulting injuries. Note that it is immaterial that the actual victim was not the intended victim. Additionally, if the defendant attempted to cause serious bodily injury, it does not matter whether such injury actually resulted.

On the subject of attempt, New Jersey considers a person to be guilty of attempt if, acting purposefully, he does any of the following:

1. Engage in conduct that would constitute the offense if the attendant circumstances were as a reasonable person would believe them to be; or

2. Do or omit to do anything with the purpose of causing serious bodily injury to another without further conduct on his part; or

3. Do or omit to do anything that, under the circumstances as a reasonable person would believe them to be, an act or omission constituting as substantial step in a course of conduct planned to culminate in his commission of the crime. The step taken must be one that is strongly corroborative of the defendant's criminal purpose. The accused must be shown to have had a firmness of criminal purpose in light of the step he had already taken. These preparatory steps must be substantial and not just very remote preparatory acts.

It should also be pointed out that even when actions satisfy the elements indicated above, various defenses exist. New Jersey calls these defenses “affirmative defenses”. These affirmative defenses include self defense, and defense of others. These defenses apply to all assaults, not just the serious bodily injury aggravated assault discussed in detail here. Persons charged in New Jersey with any type of assault should consult with an experienced New Jersey criminal defense lawyer immediately. Assault cases require immediate investigation. This immediate investigation is needed in order to identify witnesses and preserve evidence. These are steps that will be crucial to defense efforts. Experienced New Jersey criminal defense lawyers know what kinds of witnesses and evidence can help the defense.

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