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Ohio Assault Law

Ohio Assault Penalties, ORC § 2903.13

What you are facing under ORC § 2903.13, how the penalties scale, and the questions an attorney needs to answer — under Ohio (OH) assault law.

Ohio (OH) — Assault

Offense class: 1st Degree Misdemeanor; 5th Degree Felony (victim is peace officer, teacher, health worker, etc.)

Incarceration

– 180 days (M1); 12 months (F5)

Maximum Fine

$1,000 (M1); $2,500 (F5)

Offense Class

1st Degree Misdemeanor; 5th Degree Felony (victim is peace officer, teacher, health worker, etc.)

What this costs

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Ohio Assault Penalty Range

FactorDetail
StatuteORC § 2903.13
OffenseAssault
Class1st Degree Misdemeanor; 5th Degree Felony (victim is peace officer, teacher, health worker, etc.)
Incarceration – 180 days (M1); 12 months (F5)
Maximum fine$1,000 (M1); $2,500 (F5)

Penalty Enhancements

Additional factors that can increase the sentence under Ohio law.

  • Victim is peace officer, firefighter, BCI investigator on duty (F5)
  • Victim is school teacher or administrator (F5)
  • Victim is health care professional (F5)
  • Prior assault conviction against same type of victim (F4)

Ohio note: Simple assault is M1. Elevates to F5 when victim is a protected class on duty. 'Knowingly' means defendant was aware conduct would probably cause physical harm. 'Recklessly' for serious harm prong.

Federal judges with most assault sentencing data in Ohio

These are aggregate frequencies — never a prediction about any specific case.

What you're afraid of

Ohio assault defendants tell us they're afraid of four things. Here's how we address each.

Every citation in your report links back to a real CourtListener URL or a real state statute page. Your attorney can verify everything in under five minutes. We sit alongside your attorney — we don't replace them.

  • What if I take the wrong plea — or the wrong sentence?

    Most defendants take the first plea offered. We pull the comparable cases in your district and your judge's prior rulings, so you can see what the floor actually is before deciding.

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  • What if my attorney isn't actually listening — or preparing?

    Most defendants leave their attorney's office with more questions than they came in with. Not because attorneys are bad — the meeting is short and you didn't know what to ask. We hand you the questions, scored against your charge.

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  • I don't even know what I don't know.

    The hardest part of a criminal case is not knowing which questions matter. The Intelligence Brief pulls the most-cited opinions in your district + your charge, mapped to your judge's prior rulings, and surfaces the five questions that move the needle in front of this prosecutor.

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  • What if I bring my attorney a number they dismiss?

    If you bring your attorney a number they can't trace to a source, the conversation is over. Every number in our report is a hyperlink. Your attorney clicks, verifies, and the conversation continues.

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We're not here to replace your attorney. We're here to make sure you walk into their office knowing the right questions to ask.

What you're paying for is the time

Skip the 6-10 hours of reading. We already did it.

Defendants are already doing this work themselves — on r/legaladvice / r/Ask_Lawyers / Avvo Q&A, in Google searches, in the long thread of “what happens if I plead X” questions every public legal-help surface carries. The data is public. The reading is the work.

  • r/legaladvice + r/Ask_Lawyers (source): thousands of 'what happens if I plead X' threads, none of them indexed to your specific charge or your state's statute.

  • Avvo Q&A (source): per-charge plain-language threads, attorney answers gated behind per-minute meters.

  • Your state's official statute site: the actual statute text, the actual sentencing range, the actual enhancement triggers.

We hand you the synthesis — cited, hyperlinked, organized for your charge — for $127.

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Is your Ohio assault case defense on track?

The free Defense Score checks 10 critical defense behaviors specific to assault cases. Takes 2 minutes. Instant results.

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DUI Defense Playbook

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26 questions that change how the next attorney meeting goes, a case stage roadmap, red flag checklist, and a case progress scorecard. Instant PDF download, relevant to Ohio defendants.

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Other Ohio defense topics

Facing a different charge in Ohio? Penalty ranges, enhancements, and defense questions for related crimes:

DUI in OhioDrug Possession in OhioDomestic Violence in Ohio

This page provides legal information — not legal advice — about Ohio assault law as of the date of publication. Laws change. Verify current statutes with a licensed attorney in Ohio.