According to criminal law, in order for a person to be prosecuted for aggravated robbery, there must be several elements present during the commission of the crime. For example, the suspect must take the property of another person, while utilizing force to gain victim compliance in transferring the property.
Depending on the jurisdiction, force can be defined in several ways. In some jurisdictions, a threat of force can constitute an aggravated robbery charge according to criminal law. However, the criminal law in some states requires that a victim sustain some form of injury for the charge to be increased from robbery to aggravated robbery.
In addition, some states’ criminal laws do not differentiate between aggravated and armed robbery. So in some states, the use of force can incur the same charges as a crime in which a deadly weapon was presented or used during the commission of the crime.
Generally, a criminal lawyer will try to have the charges reduced to simple robbery if no victim was actually injured or injured as a result of some intervening factor that took place during the commission of the crime. For example, a fleeing victim may have fallen and broken an arm. In some jurisdictions’ criminal laws, that would constitute the use of force because the victim fled due to some real or perceived threat to their life and safety.
However, any criminal lawyer would at least attempt to have that factor left out of the case, especially if there were no other acts of violence present during the commission of the crime.
Some states’ criminal laws differentiate between real violence and a perceived threat from the robbers. Perceived threats in some states’ criminal laws can incur the same charges as an act of actual violence against a victim. While every State prosecutes robbery as a felony, sentences will vary according to the specific and unique criminal law in each State and the tactics utilized by the criminal lawyer that represents the suspects.
Prosecutors may attempt to make a deal with the criminal lawyer that represents the suspect of an aggravated robbery. Generally, however, deals will only be utilized in a case that includes a first offense and in which the crime did not include any real violence against victims.
In addition, deals may be made with a suspect that is willing to testify against a suspect that committed acts of violence during the commission of the crime. Criminal lawyers will always strive to get a sentence that includes the lesser offenses present during the commission of the crime.
