Assault Defense Lawyer

for the Denver Area

Denver Assault Defense

Assault charges threaten your reputation, your freedom, and your livelihood. If you are a licensed healthcare professional such as a nurse or doctor, a criminal assault case will lead to a disciplinary case with your professional board. Assault accusations raise questions about a professional’s temperament and the safety of vulnerable patients in their care. If you are charged with assault, contact a lawyer who can aggressively defend you and your license, who will be at your side through the entire process.

Matt Hand is a Colorado criminal defense attorney who defends licensed healthcare professionals, both from criminal charges and from board discipline. I have defended countless healthcare licensees, such as nurses, doctors, dentists, and therapists. I have won trials or earned dismissals on charges such as felony assault, DUI, indecent exposure, hit and run, attempt murder, harassment, sex assault, domestic violence, and more.

Legal Services and Areas of Service

My criminal defense practice primarily serves Colorado professionals licensed by DORA boards such as the Board of Nursing, Medical Board, Board of Pharmacy, Dental Board, and Board of Veterinary Medicine. I accept criminal cases that do not involve a healthcare license when I have availability.

Colorado Assault Defense

Felony vs Misdemeanor vs Municipal Assault. There are felony versions of assault (1st and 2nd degree assault), but there is also a misdemeanor crime of assault (3rd degree) and municipal assault, if you are charged in municipal court rather than with state charges in county court. The base case is misdemeanor 3rd degree assault, where you are charged with “knowingly or recklessly causing injury.” Injury is defined to be as little as pain. But assault can quickly be elevated to a felony, with more severe penalties in various situations: if the injury is considered “serious bodily injury,” if a weapon is used, if strangulation (however brief) is alleged, if the victim is an at-risk adult, and more.
Sentences for assault convictions. Misdemeanor assault is normally punishable by up to 18 months in jail, but even misdemeanor punishments can go up if the victim is in a protected class, such as a police officer or a pregnant woman. It is hard to generalize about sentencing for felony assault, due to the number of subtypes of felony assault and the sentence enhancers that come from “extraordinary risk” and “crime of violence” designations, along with the (low) possibility of being sentenced in an “aggravated range” for the offense. But the most common versions of felony assault will normally be punishable by either 2-8 years or 5-16 years, if imprisonment is ordered, and a prison sentence is always followed by parole. Thankfully, probation (rather than jail or prison) is still legally possible in most assault cases, but the risk of a prison sentence is substantial.
Domestic Violence vs Not. The reality is that a large proportion of the state’s assault cases are cases of domestic violence (DV). DV cases have many unique procedural and sentencing rules, so click here for more information on domestic violence defense for healthcare professionals. Non-domestic assault cases happen too, of course—in cases of road rage, bar fights, neighbor disputes, and more. While DV cases usually happen away from work, the boards still take an interest in them. DV cases may reflect behavioral health problems that could affect the safety of patients, especially to the extent that the boards analogize the duty of care in family relationships to the duty of care in patient relationships.
Workplace assault cases. The biggest threat to a healthcare license is the licensee being accused of crimes at the workplace. Unfortunately, line-of-duty assault accusations are common for healthcare professionals. Nurses, for example, are often accused of assault when they must restrain aggressive patients, or defend themselves. In these cases, the Board will worry about the safety of patients in the nurse’s care and will question the nurse’s temperament for dealing with stressful situations. Sometimes this is fair, but many times professionals are accused of patient abuse when they have been put in an impossible position of having to defend themselves. Administering medications when there is a dispute about consent can also lead to assault accusations or charges.
Defending assault cases. Occasionally, an assault accusation is a work of pure fiction and can be defended as such. More commonly, there was force used but the question is whether that force was reasonable self-defense. Sometimes, there is no question of unlawful assault, but instead there are questions about what level was committed (felony vs misdemeanor, or what level of felony). Fighting these battles requires every tool in the lawyer’s toolbox, from investigation, to legal fights over what evidence may be admitted, to cross-examination and all of the trial skills that are critical to saving innocent people from ruin. In healthcare workplace assault cases there are many technical issues that feed into questions of self-defense–e.g., were there orders for a restraint, what training was given to staff in dealing with violent patients, was that training followed, etc. In all cases, witness perceptions and credibility will be thoroughly examined to chip away at mistaken and exaggerated accusations.

To schedule a free phone consultation,
please email: matt@handlaw.com

Include your phone number and basic information about the allegations against you. For professional license cases, attaching a PDF of the complaint is best, but at least indicate what license you hold and any upcoming deadline. For criminal cases, indicate what charges you are facing, plus the next court date and location. I will respond promptly. All emails and consultation with me are confidential.