New Brunswick Assault and Threats Attorney for Middlesex County

Reviewed by William A. Proetta, Esq. · Updated October 2026

Assault in New Jersey is charged under N.J.S.A. 2C:12-1, and the grade ranges from a petty disorderly persons offense with up to 30 days in jail to a 2nd-degree aggravated assault carrying 5 to 10 years and an 85% parole bar. The related charges on this page reach further: kidnapping and home invasion burglary are 1st-degree crimes, while harassment is usually a petty disorderly persons offense.

Where a case is heard depends on that grade. Simple assault, harassment, disorderly conduct and other disorderly persons charges stay in the municipal court of the town where they arose, such as Edison Municipal Court (100 Municipal Boulevard), Woodbridge Municipal Court (1 Main Street) or New Brunswick Municipal Court (25 Kirkpatrick Street). Indictable crimes go to the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office and the Superior Court in New Brunswick. William Proetta Criminal Law represents people in both settings from our office on Park Avenue in Edison, and I bring more than 15 years of criminal trial work to each file.

How the Code Grades Violence and Threats

New Jersey does not sort offenses into felonies and misdemeanors. It uses degrees for crimes and two lower tiers that are not crimes at all.

• Crimes (1st through 4th degree) are indictable. They require a grand jury indictment or the defendant’s waiver, they carry a right to a jury trial, and they are heard in Superior Court.
• Disorderly persons and petty disorderly persons offenses are decided by a municipal judge without a jury. They are not “crimes” under the State Constitution, though they still create a record and can bring jail.

For assault specifically, three facts move a case up the scale: how badly the person was hurt, whether a weapon was used, and who the person was. The Code defines three levels of harm in N.J.S.A. 2C:11-1. Bodily injury is physical pain, illness or impairment. Significant bodily injury is a temporary loss of a body part’s function or of one of the senses. Serious bodily injury is the top tier, involving a substantial risk of death, permanent disfigurement or protracted impairment. The blog post what degree is assault in New Jersey gives quick examples.

Aggravated assault has no 1st-degree form. The statewide Assault in New Jersey guide covers every paragraph of the statute, injury definitions and protected persons in depth; this section focuses on how each charge plays out in Middlesex County.

Charges We Defend in This Section, Most Serious First

Cases where someone died, including murder, manslaughter and vehicular homicide, are covered in our Middlesex homicide defense section.

1st-degree exposure

• Kidnapping (N.J.S.A. 2C:13-1): 1st degree with a 15–30 year range, or 2nd degree if the person was released unharmed in a safe place before arrest.
• Home invasion burglary (2C:18-2.1): 1st degree under NERA when someone is threatened or hurt, or the intruder is armed, inside a residence.

2nd-degree exposure

• Aggravated assault (2C:12-1(b)): 2nd, 3rd or 4th degree depending on injury, weapon and mental state.
• Strangulation (2C:12-1(b)(13)): 2nd degree and NERA when the person is a domestic violence victim as the law defines it.
• Assault on a police officer (2C:12-1(b)(5)(a)): 4th degree without injury, 3rd with injury, 2nd with serious injury.
• Assault by auto (2C:12-1(c)): from disorderly persons for reckless driving that injures, up to 2nd degree for a DWI crash causing serious injury near a school.
• Hindering apprehension or prosecution (2C:29-3): graded by the underlying offense, from disorderly persons to 3rd degree, and 2nd degree for obstructing a witness.
• Terroristic threats (2C:12-3): 3rd degree, or 2nd during a declared emergency.

3rd-degree exposure

• Criminal restraint (2C:13-2): 3rd degree when a restraint exposes someone to a risk of serious injury.
• Stalking (2C:12-10): 4th degree, 3rd when it violates a court order or repeats against the same person.
• Cyber-harassment (2C:33-4.1): 4th degree, 3rd when aimed at a public servant or their family since January 2026.
• Criminal coercion (2C:13-5): 4th degree, 3rd when the threatened act is a more serious crime or the purpose is criminal.
• Resisting arrest (2C:29-2(a)): disorderly persons, 4th degree by flight, 3rd with force.
• Criminal mischief (2C:17-3): disorderly persons to 3rd degree in nearly all cases, mostly by the dollar amount of damage.

4th-degree and municipal court charges

• Obstruction (2C:29-1): disorderly persons, or 4th degree when it impedes a criminal investigation.
• Trespassing (2C:18-3): petty disorderly persons for defiant trespass, up to 4th degree for a dwelling, a school or peering into windows.
• Simple assault (2C:12-1(a)): disorderly persons, or petty disorderly persons for a mutual fight.
• False imprisonment (2C:13-3): disorderly persons only, though it carries registration when a non-parent restrains a minor.
• Disorderly conduct (2C:33-2): petty disorderly persons, or disorderly persons for masked conduct or disrupting a public gathering.
• Harassment (2C:33-4): petty disorderly persons in nearly every case.

What Happens After an Assault Charge in Middlesex County

Summons or warrant. Police decide at the outset whether to issue a summons, which lists a court date, or a complaint-warrant, which means arrest. A person held on a warrant goes to the Middlesex County Adult Correction Center on Apple Orchard Lane in North Brunswick, and a judge reviews release at a first appearance. The prosecutor may move for detention, which leads to a separate hearing.

Domestic cases run on two tracks. If the people involved are spouses, former partners, household members, co-parents or dating partners, the criminal complaint is usually accompanied by a restraining order application heard in the Family Part at 120 New Street, New Brunswick. Police seize weapons that pose a risk to the complaining witness, and a final restraining order hearing often takes place long before the criminal case is resolved. Our Middlesex domestic violence page explains both tracks.

Screening and the grand jury. Indictable complaints go to the MCPO at 25 Kirkpatrick Street. Some are presented to a grand jury in New Brunswick; others are downgraded to disorderly persons offenses and returned to the municipal court where they were filed.

Municipal court practice. Neighbor and bar disputes often produce complaints filed by both sides, and those cross-complaints are usually heard together. Our page on cross-complaints covers how that works, including when a private attorney may prosecute.

Diversion: PTI and Conditional Dismissal

For indictable assault charges at the 3rd or 4th degree, Pretrial Intervention in Middlesex County is applied for through the Criminal Division before the first case disposition conference after arraignment. Second-degree charges need the prosecutor’s consent and a guilty plea, an officer assault with serious injury is barred, and domestic cases involving violence face a presumption against admission. In municipal court, conditional dismissal can end a first disorderly persons charge with a dismissal after a year of monitoring, but the statute excludes domestic violence offenses and offenses against elderly, disabled or minor persons. Either program can be used only once.

Call Our Edison Office

Bring your complaint or summons, the court date and any restraining order paperwork. William Proetta Criminal Law reviews Middlesex County assault and threats cases at no charge, 24 hours a day, at (732) 659-9600, or through our contact page.