One day you decided to go to a bar (or anywhere else) with your friends to have a drink and simply to hang out without expecting that anything bad is going to happen. But some things cannot be predicted.
And then, at some moment, you catch yourself being in a full-blown fight. Was it because someone provoked you? Did you start everything, or were you trying to defend your friend or anyone else who was attacked?
Whatever the reason may be behind this act, you are probably wondering if you can be arrested and later on charged for being in a fight. If you would like to know the answer to this question, then stay tuned to find out everything.
Charges You May Face
The short answer is yes, you can be charged for being in a fight and below we’ll see what you may expect. In short, there are four criminal charges that you may face if you’ve been involved in a fight and they include:
- Disorderly intoxication – This is something that occurs when a person is drunk and immediately becomes a threat to anyone around them. If at first glance, your behavior looks very unhinged, law enforcement has every right to tell you to leave the place you’re in (a bar, for instance) before things get worse. If you end up being involved in a fight, or any other similar incident, you can be charged with a second-degree misdemeanor charge.
- Disorderly conduct – Also known as a “breach of the peace” it means that you are disturbing the peace, which means that you can either end up in jail or pay a huge fine due to a second-degree misdemeanor.
- Aggravated battery – This means that you intentionally harmed someone, with a desire to cause them serious bodily harm. The situation may even be worse if you employed a deadly weapon, which can lead to a second-degree felony charge.
- Manslaughter – This means that someone, has sadly, died in a fight and this type of crime can either be involuntary or voluntary. Involuntary means that you didn’t plan on killing anyone and that it occurred in the heat of the moment, while voluntary is the complete opposite. It doesn’t matter whether it was voluntary or involuntary, in both instances, a person will most likely end up in prison.
What Can You Do If You’ve Been Charged?
If you are facing charges, then one of the most important steps that you can take is to contact a lawyer. If you live in Denver, or anywhere near this city, consider yourself lucky, because out there, you can come across fantastic assault solicitors. If that’s the case, then be sure to call an assault attorney in Denver, CO as soon as possible. These are urgent situations, and you shouldn’t postpone anything. So how can you benefit from an assault lawyer? First and foremost, you’ll have someone by your side who will try to understand what happened in the first place in order to come up with a good defense.
The next thing this legal expert will do is collect all the relevant evidence that’s going to help him or her defend you properly. Keep in mind that an advocate is perfectly familiar with a legal system which is of huge importance in these types of situations and something you should definitely make use of.
People who are thinking of representing themselves should definitely reconsider this decision. Being all on your own (meaning having no lawyer on your team) is frequently very risky and time-consuming.
You may think that you will save a bunch of cash if you do not hire an attorney, but just think of all the expenses you’ll be dealing with if you lose this case. And that’s something that can easily happen if you decide to represent yourself.
Steps To Take If You Are Facing Assault Charges
If this is your first time being in a fight, you may not know what you’re supposed to do. So to help you avoid making any additional mistakes, we’ll tell you exactly what needs to be done after a fight:
- Do not talk to the police – You may think that this is the right thing to do, but it’s actually far from it. At first glance, it may seem like they want to help you, but oftentimes, they will only try to manipulate people to get the answers they need. We understand that most people in these situations will try to explain themselves and tell their side of the story, but that’s something you should do only in the presence of your attorney in order to avoid any form of manipulation. If by any chance, they do arrest you and tell you to remain silent, make sure to stay silent at least until your lawyer arrives, then he/she will tell you what to do next.
- Do not talk to others – We know that this can be difficult, especially if you are traumatized and you could use some advice, but that’s not the smartest decision right now. We know that people who love you (such as your friends and family members) would always want to listen to your side of the story but keep in mind that everything you say could potentially be used against you in court and that’s certainly not something that you currently need. So no matter how hard it is for you to not talk about this incident, be sure to stay silent for a while.
- Do not post contact the victim – People who caused the fight unintentionally usually want to contact the victim to see how he or she is doing, and to apologize. Even though that’s a nice gesture it’s definitely not recommendable because everything you say can also be used against you, so do not do it.
These sorts of situations can truly be very frightening, particularly if you’ve never dealt with them before, however, if you do not want to make things worse, then you must follow everything that we stated here.