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. Loma Linda Domestic Violence Attorney – Experienced & Aggressive Lawyer and Lawyers Fighting for You in Loma Linda, California
About Loma Linda
Loma Linda is a city in San Bernardino County, California, United States, that was incorporated in 1970. The population was 23,261 at the 2010 census, up from 18,681 at the 2000 census. The central area of the city was originally known as Mound City and its eastern half was known as Bryn Mar. The city is located about 5 miles (8.0 km) south of downtown San Bernardino.
Loma Linda is located in the San Bernardino Valley and is part of the Inland Empire. It is bordered on the north by San Bernardino, on the east by Redlands, on the west by Colton, and on the south by Riverside County. A small area of unincorporated territory separates Loma Linda from the city of Moreno Valley to the south.
Ground water near Loma Linda is contaminated by a plume of the chemical perchlorate, which was used in the manufacture of solid rocket fuel. Also, this chemical was formerly (decades ago and in very small amounts) prescribed by physicians to control the overactive thyroid glands of certain patients. Attempts to quantify the effects of low-level exposure to perchlorate have met with resistance from environmental (and other) activists. A nearby plant operated by Lockheed Aerospace has been implicated in the improper disposal of the rocket fuel ingredient, which leached into the ground water northeast of Loma Linda. Loma Linda's municipal water supply, nevertheless, has been unaffected by the plume, primarily because Lockheed Martin installed a $19 million treatment plant in 2010 to remove both perchlorate and trichloroethylene from water after pumping it from the aquifer. The San Bernardino Valley has some of the worst breathing-air quality in the United States, because of the prevailing westerly winds that blow large amounts of pollutants from Los Angeles County into this area of San Bernardino County.
Loma Linda uses the council-manager form of government, and the City Council is composed of Mayor Rhodes Rigsby, Mayor pro tempore Ovidiu Popescu, Ron Dailey, John Lenart, and Phill Dupper.
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