NERA, the No Early Release Act, is an effort on the part of the legislature to ensure that violent individuals stay behind bars once convicted.
If you are convicted of a crime and NERA applies, you will serve 85% of your sentence before you’re eligible for parole.
Aggravated assault is a charge that carries NERA’s parole ineligibility, meaning that even the lowest grade charge, Fourth Degree Aggravated Assault, can keep you in prison for more than 15 months of an 18 month maximum sentence.
Third Degree Aggravated Assaulted carries a maximum of five years in prison, and with NERA, you’ll have to spend 51 months – more than four years – in prison if convicted.
In the Second Degree, an Aggravated Assault conviction could keep you locked up for eight and a half years before a parole board will even take a look at your file.
Don’t take chances with charges like this.
Call attorney Matthew Reisig 732-625-9661 for experienced, aggressive criminal defense in New Jersey.