I am being charged with aggravated assault because I pulled a gun on someone in self defense. What are the laws and penalties?

I hope the gun you were using is legally registered, if it is not, you’ll indefinitely receive punishment for unlawful gun possession. The definition of aggravated assault is where one threatens serious physical harm with a deadly weapon (knife, gun, etc) upon another person. Aggravated battery is when the assault turned into an act of violence, and thus what happens is aggravated assault and battery are charged as two separate violations against the violator.

Luckily in this case, nothing happened, and there was a form of self defense reasoning which had provoked you to draw your gun in the first place. Many arguments to avoid aggravated assault charges, sentencing, and punishment include self defense in situations where you feel your life or someone else’s is seriously threatened. The justification of self defense in an aggravated assault charge is usually allowable when the amount of threatening force you had used was reasonable to the amount of violence, force, or threat you were originally facing, and if you only drew your gun with an intention to stop and defuse the situation.

Another reason why people usually draw their gun is for defending their property or home (i.e. A liquor store owner may pull their gun on a robber, or a homeowner may do the same to protect his property). In many states, you are permitted to protect your home with a gun and there have been many instances where burglars ended up shot and killed, and the property owner was not charged with a crime.

However, since you were outdoors at a public park, depending on the circumstances, witnesses, and the stories the defendants come up with to describe what exactly had happened, it is difficult to say if you’ll receive an aggravated assault charge, or if this will become dropped. You should definitely hire a Criminal Defense Lawyer as they are familiar with the states laws and rules surrounding this matter and thus can set up defense strategies that will protect your legal rights.

Aggravated assault sentencing, depending on the state and nature of the situation, can result up to a felony charge, jail time, and fines. Repeat offenses would only make the sentencing much worst. If you have a clean record, and it was a justifiable situation, you may very well get out of this. If there is enough evidence for an unavoidable conviction, a Lawyer may help reduce the charge to an Aggravated Assault Misdemeanor.