One of the biggest defenses in an assault case is self-defense. An individual that claims self-defense must prove that they used a reasonable and equal amount of force to that of their aggressor when defending themselves. If there is enough evidence to prove that this was the case, a self-defense approach will yield a “not guilty” verdict.
If an individual has no prior criminal history, a solid background with regard to how they are perceived by their peers and their community, and they didn’t cause any major damage during the assault, those can all help lessen the sentence or create an opportunity for there to be special considerations.