19 Oct Felony Charge: Extortion
When you end up on the other side of the law with charges against you, it can be a stressful time. Coolidge Law, located in Gilbert Arizona, is excellent at building strategic defenses to head into court with. We specialize in criminal defense and are knowledgeable and experienced with the proceedings and processes of convictions. Extortion is a crime that comes with severe consequences.
What is Extortion?
A crime is considered extortion when there is money, property or services transferred from a victim. The transfer of money, property or services is done through:
- Threat of harm towards an individual or their family: The most common way of gaining possession of property is through the threat of harm to a victim. This can either be an implied threat through electronic means, a face-to-face threat where there is a weapon physically involved, or a case where a weapon is actually used on the victim. The severity of punishment increases based on the immediacy of the threat against the victim.
- Threat of damaging information about victim being revealed: The perpetrator threatens to damage the reputation of an individual by revealing unbecoming information about them. It does not matter if the allegation was true or false, if it was done or meant to be done in order to cause ridicule to the victim and to obtain money or property of some sort, it is considered extortion.
Through extortion, a criminal gains their desired goal through threats against the victim. This is a serious offense and comes with severe punishment for the convicted.
Extortion Consequences
For many crimes, there is presumptive sentencing in place, but the final sentencing is determined by the circumstances surrounding the crime committed. There are more severe consequences for the situations with aggravated circumstances that involved increased immediacy of the threat towards the victim. The class of felony that extortion can fall under includes:
- Class 4: Extortion committed over the phone without the use of a weapon directly has a punishment of probation up to three years incarceration.
- Class 2: Extortion committed with the display of a deadly weapon includes punishment of probation in the first offense, to 35 years in prison on the third offense. If a deadly weapon was used, the consequence automatically starts at seven years in prison.
Whatever the circumstances surrounding the crime, extortion is a serious offense and comes with heavy consequences.
If you are found charged with extortion and are in need of a criminal defense attorney, contact Coolidge Law today for the best defense in the Phoenix area.
Images used under creative commons license – commercial use (10/20/2017) Steven Perez (Flickr)