Aggravated Assault on a Police Officer

My question involves criminal law for the state of: Pennsylvania

Recently i was arrested for public drunkeness and after i was arrested i was taken to the holding cell at my local police station while in the cell i spit out of the cell on the officer on duty and now they are charging me with aggravated assault. I was wondering how they can charge me with aggravated assault just for spitting and I'm a first time offender so i was wondering if anyone knows what kind of punishment I will recieve?

Here is a link to an attorney's summary of the penalties:

http://www.pennsylvania-criminal-def...om/assault.htm

And the section itself:

http://law.onecle.com/pennsylvania/c...7.002.000.html

This appears as if it will be charged as a Felony 2. I suspect that there might be case law that defines the emitting of bodily fluids as being covered by this section. If not, then your attorney can probably negotiate this down to a lesser offense.

A variety of diseases can be spread by saliva.

I bet you thought it was really cute to spit at a cop.

How does that feel?

Police are already regularly exposed to just about every crap aliment there is. Spitting on them is pretty much a sure way to get arrested and charged. In some cases, it can also result in mandatory blood tests for all sorts of potential ailments as well.

The last guy that spit on me did 3 months in jail and 3 years of probation.

But i would have never spit on him or have done anything i did if I wouldn't have been drunk and its been made pretty clear to me now that i have a drinking problem and this is my first offense of any kind so i dn't think throwing me in jail is going to help me at all i need help with my drinking problem

And your attorney can ask for probation and alcohol counseling as part of a plea deal. Unfortunately for you, in most states, being voluntarily inebriated is NOT a defense against the issue of intent to commit a crime.

Quote:

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Quoting deathlessone897@yahoo.com

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But i would have never spit on him or have done anything i did if I wouldn't have been drunk and its been made pretty clear to me now that i have a drinking problem and this is my first offense of any kind so i dn't think throwing me in jail is going to help me at all i need help with my drinking problem

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I have yet to hear ANYONE faced with a felony think that throwing them in jail will help them.

If you are going to try this in court, I recommend you start NOW... go to AA meetings, get at the MINIMUM weekly pee tests to prove you have stopped drinking and get your sponsor ready to testify.

"I am going to give up drinking" is second only to "I have found Jesus" as an attempt to sway a court of law.

neither is really believed without some kind of proof.

some time police officers make the wrong call and sometimes they come up with charges when they can't think of a good one , sometimes they add things in their report that are not true but sound good and then you have rookies who are so gald to be cops they just can't wait to make an arrest but my problem is the jails are crowded and they know this why arrest everybody somethings can be settled on the spot and if the officer can't settle it that the da should have more counselors in the court room, people are just signing away there lives just to get it over with...

Dude, you need a lawyer. You need one who might, just might, be able to work some magic with the DA/SA.

After that you need some anger management control exposure. Because until you wrestle that demon to the ground, you will be in this mess again.

Depending on the jury, voluntary intoxication is a defense in my state. But that's all that it is and it's not guaranteed that the jury will buy. Being that he is a cop he is more then likely to show up to trial and do a perfect testimony addressing the jury. Hopefully the DA can take it easy on you and work out a deal with your lawyer. In your case it's somewhat justified.
I was charged with a misdemeanor attempted assault back in college during a football game when a cop came over arrested me and wrote in the police report that due to me being a big guy and intoxicated, he feared for his safety. They also arrested 30 other kids that day and I'm pretty sure the midget cop got sued. At the very least he didn't work for the school very long.