Domestic Battery: PC 243(e)(1)
Domestic battery also concerns a willful or intentional act on an intimate partner except that the injury can be trivial, though harmful or offensive, and need not have caused any pain to the victim. For a battery to occur, it can be any unwanted contact such as pushing or slapping the individual and doing so with the purpose or intent of committing harm. A battery also occurs regardless if the contact was not directly on the victim. For example, smashing the victim’s car window while the person was inside, snatching a necklace off the intimate partner or kicking the victim’s cat in the person’s presence could be charged as domestic battery.
Domestic battery is a misdemeanor though you can face aggravated battery charges, which can be charged as a felony if the intimate partner suffered serious bodily injury, and face state prison time. In many cases, the court will require the offender to attend a batterer’s treatment program for at least one year as a condition of probation. A subsequent domestic battery conviction results in a mandatory minimum jail time of 48 hours.
Possible Defenses to a Domestic Violence Charge
There are numerous defenses available to anyone charged with any of the above charges, some of which are dependent on the crime for which you are being prosecuted.
- Self-defense. You can asset self-defense if you reasonably believed you or someone near you was in imminent danger of being harmed or unlawfully or offensively touched and that you needed to apply force to protect yourself or that other person. The force used must be only that required or necessary to defend yourself.
- Lack of injury. If no injury occurred, then certainly you cannot be prosecuted under PC 243.5, corporal injury to a spouse or cohabitant. You need not have produced a visible injury, though, to be charged with a battery offense or elder abuse.
- Lack of a sustained or reasonable fear for one’s safety or well-being. To be prosecuted for criminal threats, the victim must have had a reasonable fear of the threat and it must have lasted for more than a moment. Merely being startled or being told by the defendant that he or she may get you some day may not be enough to constitute a crime.
- False accusations. Many times, a jealous spouse or ex-dating partner or vengeful family member will fabricate a charge of assault or abuse. Often, a comprehensive medical examination will not contradict the accuser’s account of how an alleged injury occurred.
- Mistaken assumptions. In some cases, someone who is required to report suspected abuse or domestic violence will report it to authorities. A criminal defense attorney may have to launch a separate investigation to exonerate the defendant by showing that either someone else was responsible or that some other plausible explanation explains the injury.
- Violation of constitutional rights. Police must follow certain protocol that adheres to rights found in the federal and state constitutions regarding reasonable searches and seizures, extracting confessions and lawfully arresting someone.
Contact the Domestic Violence Attorney Group
A domestic violence accusation may be result of a mistake or a fabricated allegation from someone seeking retribution or vengeance against you. There are numerous cases where mitigating circumstances, unknown facts, misunderstandings or overzealous prosecutions result in unsubstantiated or excessive charges that our attorneys can examine and appropriately advise you. Promptly retaining an experienced domestic violence lawyer from the Domestic Violence Attorney Group can often mean the difference between getting your case dismissed, charges reduced, or having you plea to a different offense with lesser penalties. Chino Hills Domestic Violence Attorney – Experienced & Aggressive Lawyer and Lawyers Fighting for You in Chino Hills, California
About Chino Hills
Chino Hills is a suburb located in the southwestern corner of San Bernardino County, California, United States. The city borders Los Angeles County on its northwest side, Orange County to its south, and Riverside County to its southeast. The city had a population of 74,799 at the 2010 census.
Chino Hills was ranked 34th in Money magazine's "Best places to live 2012." It is also the 6th highest income place in the United States (with population 65,000 to 250,000) and was ranked as the 13th safest city in the United States in 2008 by the FBI. Chino Hills is a part of the Chino Valley.
Chino Hills' reputation is known in the national arena as well, as it was featured on the list of 87 of America's hottest towns in the January 2004 issue of Money magazine. Chino Hills was ranked 8th on the list of “best places in the west with a population under 100,000.” The magazine reviewed a decade of data for communities with above average population growth, income, and home prices "to see where people were most willing to devote a high multiple of their annual income to live happily ever after."
After the Spanish founded Mission San Gabriel in 1771, the Chino Hills were used extensively for grazing by mission cattle. During the Mexican Republic era, the hills were used as spillover grazing from such surrounding Mexican ranchos as Santa Ana del Chino and Rancho La Sierra (Yorba). After Mexico ceded California to the United States in 1848, the land was still used primarily for grazing. Except for the area of Prado Dam, which was, and still is, a swamp and subject to flooding annually. Most historical dwellings were demolished in the rush to build. A local state monument is present in the grass lawn area of the local fire department, if one looks closely. Casa Colina, a well-known rehabilitation center now situated in Pomona California, began as a tubercular clinic in the Los Serranos sector. Similarly, the well-known hospital, Loma Linda Hospital, also had its beginnings as a tubercular clinic. Sadly, most patients admitted for tuberculosis, succumbed to the illness because of the ineffectiveness of pre-antibiotic treatments.
This land was sold to Richard Gird, the founder of nearby Chino subdivision and from which the town of Chino sprung in 1910. With the building of the Carbon Canyon Mineral Springs in the modern-day Sleepy Hollow region of the city and the new Los Serrano’s Country Club in Los Serranos, Chino Hills, California, the area became a destination for both Los Angeles tourists and bootleggers during the prohibition because of its isolation. For the same reason, Sleepy Hollow became a destination for hippies and artists during the 1960s. During the late 1980s, an incorporation effort began and in 1991, the city was incorporated with a population of 42,000.
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