The striking of a politician’s chin by an opponent
politician, incidental to waving a political flier in the air
during a heated confrontation, did not amount to
assaultive criminal behavior. State v. Cabana, 315 N.J.
Super. 84 (Law Div. 1997), aff’d, 318 N.J. Super. 259
(App. Div. 1999)
B. Aggravated Assault (N.J.S.A. 2C:12-1b)
There are eleven separate circumstances constituting
aggravated assault.
- N.J.S.A. 2C:12-1b(1) provides that a person is
guilty of second degree aggravated assault if he or she
“[a]ttempts 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... .”
The trial judge did not err in denying a judgment of
acquittal on attempted aggravated assault, because the
jury could have found that defendant attempted to cause
serious bodily injury by driving his car towards a police
officer, striking him, and accelerating while the officer
hung onto the car through the broken window, causing
the officer to roll off the car onto the ground. However,
the aggravated assault conviction was ultimately reversed
because the trial court failed to limit the jury’s
consideration to attempted aggravated assault because
the victim did not suffer serious bodily injury. State v.
Green, 318 N.J. Super. 361, 371-72 (App. Div. 1999),
aff’d o.b., 163 N.J. 140 (2000)
Testimony that defendant, without provocation,
smashed a beer stein directly and with full force in the face
of a female bar patron would support a verdict of
aggravated assault. The jury could find that defendant’s
conduct was knowing or purposeful or reckless under
circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the
value of human life, and that the victim’s injuries, which
consisted of stitches, root canal and repair of a chipped
tooth, constituted “serious bodily injury” as opposed to
mere “bodily injury.” Moreover, the guilty verdicts of
second degree aggravated assault, negligently causing
bodily injury with a deadly weapon and third degree
possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose were not
inconsistent, as the elements of each charge differed and
none of the jury’s findings on one charge negated an
element of another. Defendant may have been recklessly
indifferent to the value of human life in striking a forceful
blow to the victim aside from the use of any weapon. The
jury also may have found that defendant’s use of the
weapon was culpable but not to the same degree as his
recklessly injuring the victim. Finally, the jury may have
found that defendant’s unlawful purpose in using the
beer stein was to strike a blow but not to cause bodily
injury. State v. Villar, 150 N.J. 503 (1997).Affirmed the defendant’s conviction of aggravated
assault pursuant to N.J.S.A. 2C:12-b(1), for attacking a
county jail officer, the Appellate Division held that
although the trial court would have had a rational basis
to charge simple assault as a lesser included offense if
defendant had requested it, it was not error to fail to do
so sua sponte because it may have been defendant’s
strategic decision not to request the charge. State v. Doss,
310 N.J. Super. 450 (App. Div. 1998).Accused of firing a shotgun at a member of the
Keansburg Police Department, defendant admitted at
the time of arrest that he and a friend had been throwing
“M-80" firecrackers which apparently made a great deal
of noise. The trial court acquitted defendant of
aggravated assault but found him guilty of “causing or
risking widespread injury,” contrary to N.J.S.A. 2C:17-
2c. In reversing the defendant’s conviction the Appellate
Division held that causing or risking widespread injury is
not a lesser included offense of aggravated assault.
N.J.S.A. 2C:17-2c requires proof that the defendant
created a risk of injury or damage to ten or more people
or to ten or more buildings which contained 50 or more
people and assault requires only proof of endangering at
least one person. Even if N.J.S.A. 2C:17-2c were a lesser
included offense of aggravated assault, the facts failed to
support any such conviction for causing or risking
widespread injury. State v. Hunter, 194 N.J. Super. 177
(App. Div. 1984).In State v. Williams, 197 N.J. Super. 127 (App. Div.
1984), certif. denied, 99 N.J. 233 (1985), the Appellate
Division held that under the Code, only the seriousness
of the injury distinguishes aggravated assault from simple
assault. Over a four month period, defendant committed
an “intermittent course of bodily assaults” on his
daughter, the victim. Although the assaults were
committed in a sexually humiliating and degrading
manner, the only permanent mark on the victim’s body
was a scar left by handcuffs. Thus, in downgrading the
defendant’s conviction from aggravated to simple assault,
the Appellate Division held that “no matter how
outrageous the attending circumstances,” the “barely
perceptible mark on the girl’s wrist” cannot support a
conviction for aggravated assault contrary to N.J.S.A.
2C:12-1b(1).