Penal Law § 120.10

Assault in the first degree · as in force on May 31, 2026

§ 120.10 Assault in the first degree.

A person is guilty of assault in the first degree when:

1. With intent to cause serious physical injury to another person, he causes such injury to such person or to a third person by means of a deadly weapon or a dangerous instrument; or

2. With intent to disfigure another person seriously and permanently, or to destroy, amputate or disable permanently a member or organ of his body, he causes such injury to such person or to a third person; or

3. Under circumstances evincing a depraved indifference to human life, he recklessly engages in conduct which creates a grave risk of death to another person, and thereby causes serious physical injury to another person; or

4. In the course of and in furtherance of the commission or attempted commission of a felony or of immediate flight therefrom, he, or another participant if there be any, causes serious physical injury to a person other than one of the participants.

Assault in the first degree is a class B felony.

Official sourcehttps://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/PEN/120.10

In plain English

A person commits first-degree assault by:

(1) intending serious physical injury and causing it to that person or another with a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument;
(2) intending serious permanent disfigurement or permanent destruction, amputation, or disabling of an organ or body member and causing that injury;
(3) recklessly causing serious physical injury through depraved-indifference conduct creating a grave risk of death; or
(4) during a felony, attempt, or immediate flight, having the person or another participant cause serious physical injury to a nonparticipant. ★

It is a class B felony.

Marked in the text: penalties, time limits, sums of money. Editorial emphasis added by this edition; it does not appear in the statute as enacted.

In print

This provision appears in Volume 4 — The Court Clerk: Penal Law; Volume 1 — The Court Officer in Plain English; Volume 3 — The Court Officer: Penal Law; Volume 3 — Your Career: Penal Law in Plain English.