Why the range you found will not fit your case
These offenses are defined and graded differently in every state, and some matters are prosecuted federally. What is written on a charging document at arrest is often not the charge the case ends on, because charging decisions are made quickly and revisited as evidence comes in. What is alleged about the object involved, whether anyone was injured and how seriously, what is alleged about intent, prior record, and the particular jurisdiction all pull the outcome in different directions. Two people with similar accounts in neighboring counties can end up in very different places.
What tends to shape the result
Medical evidence and photographs of injuries usually carry more weight than either account. So does video, when it exists and when someone asks for it before it is recycled. Whether the complaining witness has given a consistent story from the first call onward matters a great deal, as does whether self-defense or defense of another is genuinely in the picture. Work done in the first weeks — locating footage, identifying witnesses who have not been interviewed, documenting injuries on your own side — tends to have more effect than anything done months later.
What we go over first
We read the charging document closely, since the specific subsection drives everything that follows, and we compare it with what the evidence is said to support. We go through your release status and what the next court date is actually deciding, which is frequently misunderstood. We also look at the consequences that outlast any sentence, including the record itself, firearms, and professional or occupational licensing. If the label on the charge looks unlikely to hold, that is usually the first thing worth pressing.
