Ark. Code Ann. § 5-13-205

Assault in the first degree

Applied in 7 court decisions — leading case Estrada-Rodriguez v. Lynch (2016)

Most recently applied in Keundre Parker v. State of Arkansas (May 2025)

Acts 1975, No. 280, § 1605; A.S.A. 1947, § 41-1605; Acts 2009, No. 332, § 2.

How often courts cite this section

citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

(1) A person commits assault in the first degree if he or she: Recklessly engages in conduct that creates a substantial risk of death or serious physical injury to another person; or

(2) Purposely impedes or prevents the respiration of another person or the circulation of another person's blood by applying pressure on the throat or neck or by blocking the nose or mouth of the other person.

(3) Assault in the first degree is a Class A misdemeanor.

(4) It is a defense to prosecution under subdivision (a)(2) of this section if the other person consented to the impeding or prevention of his or her respiration or circulation of blood.

Current official text: Arkansas General Assembly. Digitized from the UniCourt Code Improvement Commission public-domain capture. Reproduced from public-domain Arkansas statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.