Per California statutes, any violent conduct that threatens harm or causes injury within a family or home setting amounts to domestic violence (DV). If you threaten a spouse, cohabitant, co-parent, dating partner, or intimate partner, current or former, you risk DV criminal charges. The statutes highlighting DV are complex and broad and include acts you never imagined were illegal. A confrontation or argument with someone you are in a familial or intimate relationship with can put you on the wrong side of the law.

While DV statutes were enacted to protect families and homes, you can fall victim to false allegations and face wrongful convictions. At Riverside Criminal Attorney, we can uncover the truth for the court and prove you are innocent. Below, we have discussed the types of abuses covered by DV, the legal framework that guides prosecutors, penalties, and viable defenses your lawyer could use to prevent a conviction.

Domestic Violence: Legal Definition

California PC 13700 criminalizes any act of unlawful abuse accomplished through threats or harm against a family member or intimate partner. For legal purposes, an intimate partner is any of the following individuals:

  • Current or ex-spouse.
  • Current or ex-registered domestic partner.
  • Ex or current fiancée.
  • A co-parent.
  • A person you are dating or previously dated.
  • Former or current cohabitant.

 On top of this list of intimate partners, other victims of DV are:

  • Your children, as the defendant.
  • Grandparents.
  • Siblings.
  • Nephews.
  • Grandchildren.
  • Nieces.
  • Stepbrothers and stepsisters.
  • Uncles.
  • Half-brothers.
  • Aunties.
  • Half sisters.

For custody law purposes, the officer responding to the DV call will consider whether the alleged victim is any of these individuals.

It will help if you understand that the prosecutor will not be lenient with you because of your gender or whether or not the victim sustained visible injuries in the domestic abuse incident. Instead, they will seek the harshest punishment to discourage others from engaging in the same conduct.

The consequences for PEN 13700 violations are severe, so you should talk to an experienced defense lawyer. At Riverside Criminal Attorney, we will assist you in understanding your charge and possible penalties and provide legal representation for a fair verdict.

California’s Mandatory Arrest

On matters regarding domestic violence, California is a mandatory arrest state. The law requires law enforcement responding to a domestic violence 911 call to make an apprehension if they can establish adequate probable cause. The probable cause could be visible injuries or bruises on the purported victim. If the officer finds probable cause, his discretion in the arrest becomes nonexistent. The officer must arrest you and place you in custody overnight to ensure no harm to the victim.

If the officer has arrested you, do not resist, apologize, or try to talk yourself out of the situation. Even if you face false accusations, do not try to explain your innocence to the officers because you will be giving them probable cause, simplifying their work of making an arrest.

Previously, responding police officers could only make arrests when they witnessed an act of violence. Nevertheless, after 1980, any physical injuries, like bruises or a black eye, on the victim should give officers probable cause to place you under arrest. Today, mere allegations of threats are sufficient to cause apprehension. Judges defend this rule by arguing that the officer only needs reasonable suspicion that you have engaged in domestic violence to arrest you.

Domestic Violence Types

DV is a general term for several crimes committed between individuals in familial or intimate relationships. The crime the prosecutor charges you with depends on your relationship with the victim and the case’s circumstances.

Domestic Battery

According to Penal Code 243(e)(1), an intimate partner's willful, harmful, or offensive touching amounts to domestic battery. The offense entails violence or the application of physical force against someone you are in an intimate relationship with.

You will be guilty of this violation even if the victim is not physically injured. To secure a guilty verdict, the prosecutor must prove that your deliberate contact with the alleged victim was angry, offensive, harmful, or disrespectful.

The prosecutor charges this offense as a misdemeanor. When convicted, you will face at most twelve months of incarceration, misdemeanor probation, and financial court fines not exceeding $2,000. Typically, the court grants informal probation in place of the jail sentence. The probation program is also called a suspended sentence. The conditions of the informal probation are:

  • Twelve months of batterer’s counseling program.
  • A financial court fine of $5,000 in place of the $2,000.
  • Paying for the victim’s medical bills.

It would help to know that if you are a repeat offender, the court will impose a mandatory two-day jail sentence before you start probation. It means the judge sets the jail sentence and subsequent informal probation.

A conviction for a PEN 243(e)(1) violation also attracts immigration consequences. If you are an alien, you risk deportation even if you have a lawful immigration status.

Corporal Injury to an Intimate Partner

California PC 273.5 highlights the offense of corporal or bodily injury to a spouse. When you face the charges, the prosecutor must prove the following aspects of the crime:

  • You deliberately caused bodily harm.
  • You had an intimate relationship with the purported victim.
  • The bodily or corporal injury triggered a traumatic condition.

When proving a traumatic condition, the prosecutor will focus on the existence of the bodily injury you caused the victim. The court does not concern itself with the degree or severity of the harm. A corporal or bodily injury includes:

  • A fractured bone.
  • Ankle sprain.
  • Concussion.
  • Suffocation injuries.
  • Bruising.
  • Strangulation injuries.
  • Internal bleeding.

The prosecutor should demonstrate to the jury that the injuries directly caused a traumatic condition.

The DA can file a PEN 273.5 violation as a misdemeanor or felony, depending on your criminal record and the violation’s facts. Even though the severity of the injury is immaterial in securing a conviction, the prosecutor will charge you with a felony if you cause grave injuries to the intimate partner. Additionally, you face felony charges if you have a prior DV conviction. In all other circumstances, a PEN 273.5 violation is a misdemeanor.

Misdemeanor penalties include:

  • Financial court fines not exceeding $6,000.
  • Twelve months of jail incarceration.
  • Misdemeanor probation instead of the jail sentence of twelve to 36 months.

The judge imposes probation with specific terms, like:

  • Participation in community hours.
  • Mandatory counseling.
  • Victim restitution.

If you violate these terms, the court will revoke your probation and impose the initial jail sentence.

For a felony charge, you will face:

  • 24, 36, or 48 months of prison incarceration.
  • Financial court fines to the tune of $6,000.
  • Formal or felony probation for thirty-six to sixty months.

The probation conditions include:

  • Victim restitution.
  • Periodic reporting to the judge to monitor compliance with release terms.

You should know that if you have a prior conviction for any of the following violations, you will face stricter penalties:

  • PEN 243 (d): Assault or battery causing great bodily injury (GBI).
  • PEN 243 (e): Spousal battery.
  • PC 243.4: Sexual battery.
  • PC 244: Caustic chemical assault.
  • PEN 244.5: Stun gun assault.
  • PEN 245: Deadly weapon assault.
  • PEN 273.5: Corporal or bodily injury to a spouse.

When you have a prior conviction for any offense, you risk 24, 36, or 48 months of incarceration and a court fine amounting to $10,000. However, when a PEN 273.5 violation results in GBI, you will face sentence enhancement under PC 12022.7. Under this Penal Code, you will face an additional 36 to 60 months on top of the initial sentence.

Child Abuse

California PC 273(d) criminalizes brutally inflicting corporal injury on a child or individual 18 or younger. Child abuse consists of any act that causes harm to a minor. When proving this crime, the prosecutor should show that your brutal punishment or conduct inflicting injuries on the child was deliberate and that you had control of the actions. The court is interested in the act that causes harm to the child, and your intentions to hurt the child or contravene the law are irrelevant. Additionally, the prosecutor should demonstrate that the injury inflicted on the juvenile qualifies as a traumatic condition.

Even though PEN 273(d) prohibits corporal punishment for children, it does not deny you the right to discipline your child. It is for this reason that spanking is legal if it is reasonable. There is no definite action that the court considers child abuse. Therefore, regardless of your conduct’s severity, it will be a violation if it is willful and leads to a traumatic condition. Besides, the prosecutor will secure a conviction if they can show the conduct leading to the traumatic disorder was not disciplinary.

You should take child abuse allegations seriously, particularly if you have a prior conviction. A previous allegation or sentence will be introduced as an aggravating factor. It will be admitted as evidence in the current case, although the judge has the discretion to acknowledge the proof or complaint.

Proof from past cases is introduced to show the jury that you have a pattern of violent behavior against the minor or other family members. Nevertheless, the judge can only present evidence of prior DV sentences in an ongoing child maltreatment case if the crime happened within the look-back period of five years. The judge holds DV priors and complaints to the same evidentiary standard as PEN 273(d) priors and decides what proof to introduce in the new case.

Child maltreatment is a wobbler. The prosecutor will consider your criminal record and the nature of the case to determine the charge to file against you. You will face felony charges if you have a prior sentence or allegations and your actions caused the alleged minor GBI. Without these circumstances, child abuse or maltreatment is a misdemeanor.

If the prosecutor secures a misdemeanor guilty verdict, you will face:

  • At most, $6,000 in financial court fines.
  • Jail incarceration for twelve months.
  • Misdemeanor probation.

For a felony sentence, the penalties are:

  • 24, 36, or 48-month jail sentence.
  • Court-imposed fines of at most $6,000.

If you have a prior child maltreatment complaint or sentence, the court will enhance your jail sentence by forty-eight months. However, the court will ignore the sentence enhancement if the preceding sentence happened ten years ago and you have not served any other sentence.

You must know that the court imposes probation under this subsection only in place of the jail sentence. In the probationary period, the court expects you to abide by all the program conditions, failing which, they will cancel the program and send you back to jail.

Criminal Threats

Per PC 422, a criminal threat is any behavior intended to threaten another party with severe injury or harm. Therefore, any time you threaten to cause injuries to another individual, even without specifying how you will accomplish the threats, it amounts to a crime, and the law will hold you responsible.

You can communicate the threats in writing, verbally, or electronically. The prosecutor must prove you conveyed the message through any of these means.

Furthermore, the court will consider your statement to the alleged victim as a criminal threat if it causes them reasonable or actual fear for their safety and that of their immediate family. The fear should stem from the thought that you will go through with your threats.

The prosecutor should demonstrate that you caused reasonable fear as the victim was convinced of the threat's actualization. Even if you could not execute the threats immediately, the court will deem you guilty under PC 422 if your victim is convinced you would fulfill the threats.

There are two types of threats. The first is conditional, where you threaten someone with harm or death if they do not fulfill a particular condition. For instance, if you tell someone who owes you money, “I will break your legs if you do not repay my money in three days,” Breaking the person’s legs will only happen if the victim does not pay your money in time. The fact that if the victim pays you money, you will not harm them does not mean that you cannot execute the threats. Under PEN 422, this is an actual threat that causes the party you threaten to fear for their safety.

The other type of threat is the empty one. You make an empty threat to scare your victim, not intending to execute them. However, your intentions for making the threats are irrelevant to the court, as it only focuses on whether they reasonably caused the victim to fear for their safety and believe you could execute them.

A PC 422 violation is a wobbler, giving the prosecutor the latitude to charge you with a felony or misdemeanor, depending on the severity of the injury and your criminal history. When the prosecutor secures a guilty verdict for a misdemeanor, the penalties you will face are:

  • Financial court fines not exceeding $1,000.
  • Twelve months of jail incarceration.

For a felony, the penalties are:

  • A monetary court fine of $10,000.
  • A jail sentence of at most 36 months.

If you threaten to use a deadly weapon, the court will increase your sentence by twelve months.

Child Endangerment

You will face charges under PEN 273(a) “child endangerment” when you expose an underage person to unjustifiable pain, dangerous conditions, or suffering. The police will arrest you for this crime when you subject a minor to an unjustifiable risk of physical injury, even when no harm has been done to the child. The court only considers whether there is a possibility of harm.

However, in PEN 273(d), child abuse focuses on corporal punishment and inflicting physical injuries on a child. There must be visible injuries on the minor for you to face child maltreatment, arrest, or charges.

You will face child endangerment charges when you:

  • Leave a loaded firearm within reach of a minor.
  • Fail to take an ailing child for medical examination and treatment.
  • Tattoo an underage person.

The court will convict you of this crime if they can show that:

  • Your conduct was deliberate, and it caused mental anguish, corporal injury, or pain to a minor.
  • You caused harm or let the minor sustain injuries.
  • You purposefully caused or enabled someone to place a child in a situation that jeopardized their well-being.
  • You were criminally negligent as you behaved recklessly or in a manner in which a sober person would not have acted in the same circumstances.

When making these arguments, the prosecutor must show the court the likelihood of harm befalling the minor to secure a conviction.

The offense is a wobbler. For a misdemeanor conviction, the penalties are:

  • A jail term of twelve months.
  • $1,000 in court fines.

When a child sustains GBI or dies due to criminal negligence, child endangerment becomes a felony. A conviction attracts the following:

  • $10,000 in court-imposed financial fines.
  • 24, 48, or 72 months of prison incarceration.

Probation is available in these cases as an alternative to incarceration. The judge can impose a 48-month summary probation program for a misdemeanor sentence and a 48-month formal probation for a felony conviction. The terms of probation to expect are:

  • A restraining order.
  • Random alcohol or substance testing.
  • Compulsory counseling.

It is worth understanding that the court will enhance your sentence if you acted with criminal negligence or your child sustained GBI. The court will impose an additional 36 to 72 months in prison when the minor obtains a GBI. If child endangerment results in the death of an underage, you risk an enhancement of 48 months to your initial sentence.

Elder Abuse

As per PEN 368, elder maltreatment or abuse is the deliberate neglect, emotional or physical abuse, and financial exploitation of a senior citizen 65 or older. The court will find you guilty of this offense if the prosecutor demonstrates that:

  • Your willful actions or conduct inflicted unreasonable psychological and physical pain on an elderly person.
  • You were aware the person was above 65.
  • Your action or inaction endangered the elder’s life or wellbeing.

Upon conviction, a misdemeanor PEN 368 violation attracts no more than twelve months in jail. On the other hand, a felony conviction carries, at most, 48 months in prison.

Other DV crimes in California are:

  • PEN 646.9 stalking.
  • PEN 591 telephone line damage.
  • Aggravated trespass.
  • Revenge porn.
  • Posting potentially harmful information on the internet.

Domestic Violence Defenses

At Riverside Criminal Attorney, we understand the several defense strategies we can assert in your case, based on its nature, for a fair outcome. The prevalent defenses include:

  • The injury to the purported victim was accidental.
  • Your conduct was not a direct cause of the harm.
  • You were defending yourself or others.
  • The victim falsely accuses you due to anger or spite or to gain an advantage in a divorce or custody proceeding.

Apart from these defenses, we can negotiate a plea deal to enable you to plead guilty to a less severe offense with more lenient penalties. A conviction for DV is associated with social stigma, loss of custodial rights, firearm rights, and immigration consequences. However, you can avoid these harsh consequences when you take a plea deal for a lesser crime like criminal trespass or disturbing the peace. The benefit of pleading guilty to these lesser crimes is that:

  • You keep your right to own or possess a firearm.
  • You do not lose your custody rights automatically.
  • You do not risk inadmissibility or removal.

Alternatively, we can obtain a deferred entry judgment (DEJ) if it is available in your jurisdiction. The court sets aside your sentence in this diversion program and imposes a batterer’s program. If you complete the program, the court will drop your charges, and it will be as if you were never convicted. Nevertheless, when you violate the terms of the program, it will be canceled and the initial sentence imposed.

Our lawyers will apply this defense strategy depending on your charge, location, and criminal history. Therefore, talk to us to find out if you qualify.

Find an Experienced DV Lawyer Near Me

At Riverside Criminal Attorney, we take DV cases with a lot of weight because allegations alone can cut you off from your family and have you move out of your home. Our lawyers will be involved in the case in the early stages to fight restraining orders and convince the court not to file charges. We will negotiate a plea deal for more lenient penalties when charges are filed. And when the case proceeds to trial, our lawyers will tell your side of the story to obtain a fair ruling. If you need a lawyer to help you navigate the charges, call us today at 951-877-4204 for a no-obligation consultation.