Fast-Track Trial for Assault: What to Expect & How to Prepare

The fast-track trial for assault and bodily harm is one of the most common procedures in the Spanish criminal system. If you have been summoned to a fast-track trial - typically after a fight, a domestic assault, or a street altercation - you need to know what to expect and how to prepare. As specialist criminal lawyers in assault and bodily harm, we explain the whole process.

What is a Fast-Track Trial?

The fast-track trial (Arts. 795-803 of the Spanish Criminal Procedure Act, LECrim) is an accelerated criminal procedure for flagrant offenses or those easy to investigate, where the sentence does not exceed 5 years in prison. In assault cases, it applies when:

• The facts are flagrant (police intervene at the time or shortly after).
• The investigation is straightforward (medical injury report, direct witnesses).
• The offense carries a maximum sentence of 5 years (most basic assault cases).

The trial may take place within 24-72 hours of the arrest. This means you have very little time to prepare your defense.

The Procedure Step by Step

1. Arrest or summons

After the fight or assault, the police prepare the report, take statements and gather medical reports. If you are arrested, you are brought before the Duty Court. If not, you are summoned to appear.

2. Statement before the duty judge

The judge takes your statement as a suspect. Here you may declare or invoke your right to silence. Your lawyer must be present.

3. Plea agreement or trial?

This is the key moment. The prosecutor offers you a sentence and asks whether you accept it (plea agreement) or prefer to go to oral trial. You have minutes to decide with your lawyer.

4. Oral trial (if there is no plea agreement)

If you reject the plea agreement, the oral trial is scheduled. In a fast-track trial it may take place the same day or within a few days. The evidence is examined (medical reports, witnesses, videos) and the judge issues a judgment.

Penalties for Assault

• Basic assault (Art. 147.1 CP): Prison 3 months - 3 years (requires medical or surgical treatment beyond initial first aid).
• Less serious assault (Art. 147.2): Fine 6-12 months (blows that only require first aid).
• Minor assault (Art. 147.3): Fine 1-2 months (as a minor offense, formerly a "misdemeanor").
• Aggravated assault (Art. 148): Prison 2-5 years (use of a weapon, cruelty, vulnerable victim).
• Serious assault (Arts. 149-150): Prison 6-12 years if it causes loss of an organ, sense or limb.

Defense Strategies in Assault Cases

• Self-defense (Art. 20.4 CP): Showing that you acted to repel an unlawful attack, proportionately and without prior provocation.
• Mutually consented brawl: Both parties voluntarily took part in the fight. It may mitigate or even exclude responsibility.
• Challenging the medical injury report: Questioning the link between the documented injuries and the alleged facts (pre-existing injuries, self-inflicted injuries, exaggeration).
• Lack of proof of authorship: In group fights, it can be hard to prove who caused each specific injury.
• Mitigating circumstance of provocation (Art. 21.3 CP): Showing that the victim provoked the assault with their prior conduct.
• Damage repair (Art. 21.5 CP): Compensating the victim before trial reduces the sentence.

Practical Tips

• Contact a lawyer BEFORE the trial. In a fast-track trial, everything is decided in hours: preparation time is scarce and must be used to the fullest.
• Gather evidence from the very start: Videos from the venue, testimony from friends, photos of your own injuries.
• Do not contact the victim. Any approach can be interpreted as intimidation.
• Weigh the plea agreement coolly. Sometimes accepting a lower sentence with a one-third reduction is smarter than risking a higher sentence at trial.

At Alonso Sala, we intervene daily in fast-track trials for assault. What looks like "a bar fight" can have serious criminal consequences. Call 91 078 65 74 before your trial.