Akron Felonious Assault Lawyer

Felonious Assault Attorney in Akron, OH

Felonious assault is a serious crime. A conviction can lead to a lengthy prison term and significant fines, but an Akron felonious assault lawyer can help you avoid these worst-case scenarios. 

Work With DiCaudo, Pitchford & Yoder

You deserve to have an Akron criminal defense lawyer on your side who can protect your rights and interests and provide you with a robust defense against the charges you are facing. When you work with the team here at DiCaudo, Pitchford & Yoder, you can benefit from our extensive experience, personalized legal services, and aggressive representation. We leverage our deep knowledge of felonious assault laws and the local criminal courts to get our clients the results they deserve.

Reasons to Hire a Felonious Assault Lawyer

In 2025, 34 people were convicted of felonious assault in Summit County. Of those people, 29 were charged with second-degree felonies, one was charged with a first-degree felony, one was charged with a fifth-degree felony, and five were charged with unspecified felonies.

If you’re facing these serious charges in Akron, you can hire a felonious assault lawyer to provide you with legal counsel and defense. Your Akron assault attorney can handle all aspects of your case, from simple things like filing paperwork to complex activities like interviewing witnesses, collecting evidence, and analyzing the prosecution’s case against you to come up with an effective strategy for defending you in court.

What Is Felonious Assault?

Assault laws in Ohio cover both causing and attempting to cause harm to other people. Most simple assaults are tried as misdemeanors, but more serious assaults are considered felonies. While simple assault involves a conscious attempt to cause—or causing through recklessness—another person harm, felonious assault involves causing serious injuries, specifically, or attempting to hurt someone using a deadly weapon. 

Felonious assault is a first-degree or a second-degree felony, depending on the level of harm inflicted and the alleged victim. If the alleged victim of the assault was an officer or another member of law enforcement and they suffered serious physical harm, felonious assault is a first-degree felony.

Potential Defenses Against Felonious Assault Charges

You may be able to avoid prison time for a felonious assault charge if you can defend yourself against it successfully in court. Your attorney can help you construct an effective defense strategy based on the specifics of your case. Some of the most common strategies include:

• Self-defense. Self-defense is one of the most common strategies used in assault cases. To use this defense strategy, you must show that you faced the threat of unlawful force, had a reasonable basis to fear imminent harm, used a proportionate and reasonable amount of force, and did not provoke the incident. You do not have a duty to retreat if you are in a place that you had a lawful right to be. The same standards apply to the defense of another person.
  
• Mistaken identity. If you were not arrested at the scene, we may be able to argue that the alleged victim and/or any witnesses to the incident misidentified you. We can do this by showing that you had a solid alibi proving that you were not near the scene of the crime when the assault occurred.
  
• Challenging the deadly weapon designation. If you were accused of committing felonious assault using a deadly weapon, we may be able to get your charges reduced if we can show that the instrument you used did not qualify as a deadly weapon.
  
• Insufficient evidence. If the prosecution does not have sufficient evidence to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, you should not be convicted. If there is significant evidence of guilt, we may be able to have some of it excluded via pretrial motions. This may be the case if the evidence was obtained during an unlawful search and seizure.

We can evaluate your case and help you determine which defense strategy could be most effective.

FAQs

What Qualifies as Felonious Assault in Ohio?

Acts that qualify as felonious assault in Ohio under Ohio Revised Code 2903.11 include knowingly causing serious physical harm, using a deadly weapon to attempt physical harm, or engaging in certain types of sexual conduct with the knowledge that a person is HIV-positive. Felonious assault is a felony in the first or second degree, depending on the specifics of the crime and whether the alleged victim was a member of law enforcement.

How Much Time Can You Get for a Felonious Assault in Ohio?

The amount of time you can get for a felonious assault in Ohio depends on when the crime was committed and whether it was a first- or second-degree felony. For first-degree felony offenses committed after March 21, 2019, you could face an indefinite prison term with mandatory minimum sentences ranging from three to 11 years. The maximum prison term is calculated by adding 50% of the minimum term under Ohio Revised Code Section 2929.144.

What Is the Statute of Limitations for Felonious Assault in Ohio?

The statute of limitations for felonious assault in Ohio is 20 years under Ohio Revised Code Section 2901.13. This is longer than the standard six-year statute of limitations for most felony crimes in the Buckeye State. If the state does not bring charges against you within this 20-year period, it cannot charge you with felonious assault.

How Serious Is a Felonious Assault Charge in Ohio?

A felonious assault charge in Ohio is extremely serious. This severe, high-level violent crime is typically classified as a first- or second-degree felony punishable by many years in prison and substantial fines. A conviction can also have long-lasting collateral consequences, such as difficulty finding housing or employment and the loss of your right to bear arms.

Your Akron Felonious Assault Lawyer

If you’re facing charges for this serious crime, you need to hire an Akron felonious assault lawyer right away. You can trust the team here at DiCaudo, Pitchford & Yoder to help. Our firm has been in practice since 2003. In our decades in practice, we’ve handled many felonious assault cases, helping our clients obtain positive outcomes and avoid the potentially devastating consequences of a felony conviction. Contact us to schedule an initial consultation regarding your felonious assault case today.