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 offences or those easy to investigate, where the sentence does not exceed 5 years in prison. In assault cases, it applies when there is a police report, the suspect has been arrested or summoned before the duty judge, the offence carries a maximum sentence of 5 years and any of these circumstances is present (Art. 795.1 LECrim):

• The facts are flagrant (police intervene at the time or shortly after).
• The investigation is straightforward (medical injury report, direct witnesses).
• The victim is one of the persons listed in Art. 173.2 CP (partner, former partner or family members), a case on the statutory list.

The investigative steps are carried out during the duty shift (Art. 799 LECrim) and, if there is no plea agreement, the trial is listed within the following 15 days (Art. 800.3 LECrim). This means you have very little time to prepare your defence.

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 judge (juez de guardia; formerly the duty court, Juzgado de Guardia). 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 is listed for the earliest possible date and, in any event, within the following 15 days (Art. 800.3 LECrim). 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 or a fine of 6-12 months (requires medical or surgical treatment beyond initial first aid).
• Minor injury (Art. 147.2): Fine 1-3 months, as a minor offence (blows that only require first aid).
• Physical mistreatment without injury (Art. 147.3): Fine 1-2 months (as a minor offence, formerly a "misdemeanor").
• Aggravated assault (Art. 148): Prison 2-5 years at the court's discretion (use of a weapon, cruelty, vulnerable victim).
• Serious assault (Art. 149): Prison 6-12 years (loss or uselessness of a principal organ or limb or of a sense, impotence, sterility, serious disfigurement or serious physical or mental illness); Art. 150: prison of 3-6 years (loss or uselessness of a non-principal organ or limb, or disfigurement).

Defence Strategies in Assault Cases

• Self-defence (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 does not exclude responsibility and usually rules out self-defence, but it qualifies each party's share.
• 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 rage or passion (Art. 21.3 CP): Showing that the victim's prior conduct (for instance, provocation) caused a fit of rage, blinding passion or a similar emotional state.
• 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.

The scope of the fast-track urgent proceedings is defined in Article 795 of the Spanish Criminal Procedure Law.

The duty-judge court's receipt of the police report, together with the objects, instruments and evidence gathered, is governed by Article 797 LECrim.

The trial hearing in urgent (fast-track) proceedings follows the same terms as the abbreviated procedure, under Article 802 of the Spanish Criminal Procedure Law.