When you interact with somebody you love or care about, you normally have their best interests at heart. After all, you love them. Credible sources have proved that is not always the case. At times the people that one loves most cause harm to them without reasonable reasons, and it is not an accident.
Every second, someone is hurt by a spouse or lover. Domestic violence affects persons from all walks of life, including income levels, sexual preferences, religion, genders, and races. Spouses and lovers hurting each other is not only mentally damaging but also illegal.
California Penal Code 13700 explains what domestic violence involves, and Penal Codes 243(e)(1) and 273.5 define the common charges for domestic violence. Seeking a criminal lawyer’s help when facing domestic violence in Santa Ana is crucial, especially if you are not savvy with criminal law matters.
At California Criminal Lawyer Group, we have represented many clients for many years facing domestic violence charges. Thanks to our wealth of experience, we could build solid defenses and fight for your rights. This article explores California domestic violence laws, detailing the possible penalties, legal defenses, and elements that the District Attorney must prove in court.
How California Domestic Violence Crimes are Defined
California PC 13700 makes it a crime to abuse an intimate partner. You violate the statute when you recklessly or intentionally use or threaten to use force against the wish of an intimate partner.
Who Counts As An Intimate Partner In A Domestic Violence Lawsuit?
In California, possible victims of domestic violence are split into two. These include:
1. For purposes of criminal law
California domestic violence laws prohibit abuse against an intimate partner. Intimate partners are the primary victims, and they include:
- Somebody you are currently dating or dated in the part
- Someone you have a child or children together
- Your current or former fiance(e)
- Your former or current spouse
- Your former or current registered domestic partner
- Your former or current cohabitation or live-in romantic partner
2. For purposes of custody disputes
Adding to intimate partners, the California Family Code details persons who the law considers domestic violence victims. These are:
- Grandchildren
- Grandparents
- Uncles and aunts
- Nieces and nephews
- Half-brothers and half-sisters
- Step-brothers and step-sisters
- Brothers and sisters
Common Types of Domestic Violence Crimes and Possible Punishment
In California, domestic violence crimes include neglect, threats, abuse, and battery. Many domestic violence offenses are wobblers. While some offenses are misdemeanors, several others are felonies. The prosecution charges the wobbler crimes as either a felony or misdemeanor hanging on:
- The circumstances surrounding the crime
- The seriousness of the plaintiff’s injuries, if any
- Your criminal history, if any
Following are detailed descriptions of various domestic violence crimes:
1. Domestic Battery, Penal Code 243(e)(1)
California Penal Code 243(e)(1) makes it a crime to use force against your intimate partner. Per the statute, a battery involves using violence or force unlawfully and willfully on another person. An intimate person could be your fiance, lover, spouse, co-parent, or cohabitant. Note that you could be charged even if the touching was slight as long as you did it rudely. The prosecution must prove beyond reasonable doubt particular elements, including:
- Willfully — You acted on purpose. It is not necessary that you intended to violate the law or cause harm to your intimate partner.
- Offensive or harmful touching — The prosecution must show that you touched the alleged victim offensively and caused harm to them.
In California, domestic battery is charged as a misdemeanor. If found guilty, possible punishment includes serving time in county jail for not more than a year or paying no more than a $2000 fine. The judge could sentence you to probation instead of jail but on particular conditions, including undergoing a batterer’s intervention program.
If facing domestic battery charges, your defense attorney could use various legal defense strategies to fight your charges. The lawyer could show that:
- You acted in self-defense. You can challenge the case by arguing you were defending yourself or another person. This strategy works if you believed you were in imminent danger and force was needed to avert the danger. Also, you can argue that you used an appropriate force level when defending yourself.
- You did not commit a willful act. You are guilty of this offense if you willfully touched your partner. It is a defense strategy if you say that you touched the victim by accident.
- You were falsely accused. You could face arrest based on false accusations because of jealousy, anger, or the desire to revenge. If this happens, you could argue in court that you were falsely accused.
2. Inflicting Corporal Injury On an Intimate Partner, Penal Code 273.5
California PC 273.5 PC details the punishment you could receive if you are guilty of inflicting corporal injury on your spouse, lover, co-parent, or cohabitant. Corporal injury is any physical injury regardless of its severity. California corporal injury is a wobbler, meaning you could face a felony or misdemeanor charge.
Domestic abuse, domestic battery, spousal abuse, or domestic violence is also known as domestic violence, which is among the primary California domestic violence laws. Penal Code 273.5 requires that you cause an actual injury to an intimate partner. Like in domestic battery crime, an intimate partner in an inflicting corporal injury case is defined as your spouse, fiance, cohabitant, domestic partner, and father/ mother of your child.
Examples of corporal injury are when you squeeze your spouse’s hand hard enough to cause bruises. A corporal injury could occur when you push your lover into a glass cabinet, causing them to sustain cuts on their entire body. Another example of corporal injury is where you punch and kick your live-in partner, breaking their rib.
The prosecutor chooses to charge you with a felony or misdemeanor, depending on your criminal record and the facts surrounding the case. If found guilty of a misdemeanor, potential punishment is serving time in county jail for not more than one year or paying a fine that does not exceed $6,000. If charged with a felony, you could serve in state prison for two, three, or four years or pay a fine not exceeding $6,000.
3. Criminal Threats, Penal Code 422
California PC 422 makes it an offense to threaten someone else to kill or hurt them. Criminal threats are those of great bodily injury or death and are intended to place alleged victims in sustained or reasonable fear for their safety or their families. You are charged with a criminal threat even if you do not have the capacity or intend to make the threat.
Examples of threats include threatening to shoot someone else when you are holding a gun. As a recently fired employee, you commit a criminal threat when you call your former boss and tell them that they should better watch their backs. Another instance of committing a threat is when you text your ex-lover telling them that you will set their apartment on fire.
If charged with a criminal threat crime, you could use various legal defenses in court, including:
- The alleged threat was ambiguous and vague. Use this argument if the threat was not specific.
- The threat in question could not have caused the plaintiff to fear for their safety.
- The threat did not cause fear to the recipient.
- The accuser’s fear was only momentary or fleeting.
- You made a threatening gesture but did not convey your threat electronically, verbally, or in writing.
Your lawyer could also argue that you issued no threats or the plaintiff made a false accusation.
In California, criminal threat crime is charged as a wobbler. If convicted as a demeanor, you serve time in a county jail for not more than a year. If convicted as a felony, you could be locked up in state prison for not more than four years. If you committed a threat using a dangerous or deadly weapon, the judge increases your sentence by a year. Criminal threats sentences are under the three-strikes law. Therefore, you must serve not less than 85% of the sentence before the court could release you.
4. Child Abuse, Penal Code 273(d)
California PC 273(d) punishes child abuse crime. Child abuse or corporal injury on a child happens when you impose cruel punishment or physical injury on a child. The prosecutor could charge you with a felony or misdemeanor, and the sentencing is up to a 6-year prison or jail sentence.
Examples of child abuse crime commissions include punching a teenager because they stayed out late at night, slapping a minor, leaving a mark on their body, or beating a child with a cane harder than is reasonable when disciplining them. Per mandatory reporting laws, particular professions, including service providers, child care workers, and teachers, must report suspected child neglect and abuse cases.
In California, child abuse crime is a wobbler. The prosecution charges you with either a felony or misdemeanor depending on the accused’s criminal record and the crime’s circumstances. If the prosecutor charges you with a misdemeanor, possible sentencing is serving not more than one year in county jail or paying a fine not more than $6,000. If charged with a felony child abuse, possible punishment is serving time in prison for two, four, or six years or paying a fine not exceeding $6,000.
5. Child Endangerment, Penal Code 273(a)
California PC 273(a) defines child endangerment as exposing your underage child to unjustifiable danger, suffering, or pain. You could face charges for subjecting the minor to an unreasonable risk of harm, even if they didn't sustain actual physical injuries. Even though child endangerment is similar to child abuse, you shouldn’t confuse the two.
Any adult with a child under their care could face charges under PC 273(a). The prosecutor must prove that you caused the child to undergo mental torture or suffer unjustifiable pain. The second element is that you willfully caused pain or allowed someone else to injure your child. The other element the prosecutor must prove is that you willfully cause the child under your care to be placed in a risky situation.
Examples of child endangerment are failing to seek medical treatment when the child is ailing, tattooing a child, or leaving them with a nanny who has an abusive behavior record. Another example is leaving a dangerous weapon like a loaded gun or knife with the child’s reach.
You face criminal charges depending on if the child suffered great bodily harm or death. If none of these happen, the prosecutor charges you with a misdemeanor. Possible punishments are not more than a $1,000 fine or a jail term not exceeding one year. If charged as a felony, the possible penalty is not more than $10,000 in fines or two, four, or six years in prison terms.
6. Elder Abuse, Penal Code 368
California PC 368 punishes the crime of elder abuse. Elder abuse refers to the neglect, emotional or physical abuse, or financial exploitation of a victim aged 65 years or above. The crime could be prosecuted as a felony or misdemeanor. Elder abuse is punishable by not more than four years in prison or jail.
Examples of elder abuse include refusing to feed a 70-year-old parent who needs help with feeding. You also commit elder abuse when, as a caregiver, you ridicule an elderly patient for being bound on a wheelchair. An elder abuse crime also happens when you fraudulently make an 80-year old relative include you as a sole beneficiary in their will.
In California, elder abuse is a wobbler. The prosecution charges its violation as either a felony or a misdemeanor depending on the case’s circumstances. While the penalty of a misdemeanor conviction is serving time in county jail, a felony conviction includes imprisonment for not more than four years. In the place of a prison or jail sentence, the judge could award either a misdemeanor or felony probation.
7. Violation of Restraining Order, Penal Code 273.6 PC
California PC 273.6 makes it an offense for you to violate restraining, stay-away, or protective order terms. A PC 273.6 violation is charged as a misdemeanor, and the possible punishment is a jail term not exceeding one year. The prosecutor could charge a second-offense violation involving violence as a felony. Possible sentencing for a PC 273.6 violation is not more than three years in prison or jail.
Also known as an emergency protective order, a temporary restraining order, or a protective order, a restraining order protects someone else from staking, harassment, dependent adult abuse, physical injury, or making threats.
Examples of restraining order violations include stalking your colleague in violation of workplace violence restraining order. Another restraining order violation is messaging someone else via text in violation of a civil harassment restraining order. You also violate a domestic violence restraining order when you, a suspect in a domestic violence case, call a protected person to threaten them.
Violation of a protective order is charged as a misdemeanor. If convicted, possible punishment being jailed for not more than one year or fined not more than $1,000 in fines. The judge could sentence you to summary/ misdemeanor in the place of a jail term.
8. Revenge Porn, Penal Code 647(j)(4)
California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law the revenge porn bill in 2013. It is now a crime to post someone else’s videos or pictures online without permission to cause them emotional torture. The SB 255 bill makes a PC 647(j)(4) violation a misdemeanor offense. Possible punishment for the crime is serving jail time for six months or pay a fine not exceeding $1,000.
Examples of Penal Code 647(j)(4) violations include recording someone else performing a sexual act and then posting the film on a social media platform. Another example is photographing your naked partner and uploading the images on a porn website. You also commit revenge porn when you take upskirt pictures of a woman with her permission but then post them on Facebook.
In California, revenge porn is considered a misdemeanor crime. If convicted, you serve time in county jail for not more than six months or pay a fine not exceeding $1,000. The court would award summary probation instead of jail time under particular conditions.
9. Failure to Provide Care/ Child Neglect, Penal Code 270
California PC 270 defines the crime of child neglect. As a parent or guardian, you violate PC 270 if you willfully fail to provide your child’s needs and necessities without a legal or reasonable cause. A minor child’s needs include food, clothing, housing, and medical treatment.
Instances of child neglect are:
- As a father, you fail to take your 10-year-old daughter to receive medical attention when she is ailing.
- As an adoptive parent, you fail to offer warm clothes to your daughter during the winter season.
- As a mother, you fail to properly feed your 10-year-old son, even though you can do so.
The prosecution charges you with a misdemeanor if caught violating PC 270. If found guilty, the judge could sentence you to jail for not more than one year or pay a fine not exceeding $2,000. The court could award summary probation in place of jail time under certain circumstances.
10. Damaging Phone Lines, Penal Code 591
You violate California PC 591 when you maliciously remove, obstruct, or disconnect any cable, electrical, or telephone line. Damaging phone lines could lead to felony or misdemeanor charges, and if found guilty, you could serve a 3-year jail term. Ways that are considered PC 591 violations are:
- Smashing your wife’s smartphone using a hammer during a domestic violence-related altercation
- Disconnecting your home’s electrical cable to cut power when intending to hurt your wife or out if of payback
In California, a PC 591 violation is considered a wobbler. If convicted of a misdemeanor crime, you could serve time in jail for not more than one year. If charged with a felony, you could serve up to a three-year prison sentence.
11. Aggravated Trespass, Penal Code 601
You commit aggravated trespass when you threaten to harm another person physically and enter their workplace or home without permission. The prosecution must prove certain elements before the court can find you guilty. These include:
- You threatened to cause a severe physical injury to your lover or spouse
- You intended to place the victim in reasonable fear for their safety or that of their family
- Within 30 days after issuing threats, you unlawfully gain entry into the victim’s residence without a legitimate purpose intending to carry out the threat
An example of a PC 601 violation is telling your girlfriend that she will pay for leaving you. You then enter her workplace with a machete in your hand. Aggravated trespass crime is a wobble in California. If the prosecution charges you with a misdemeanor aggravated trespass, the judge could sentence you to a year in county jail or award summary probation in place of jail time. For a felony conviction, you could serve time in prison for three years or felony probation.
Fighting a Domestic Violence Crime Charge in California
Legal defense strategies
Several legal defenses that your criminal defense lawyer could use exits. These include:
- The plaintiff’s injury was a result of an accident
- The accuser did not sustain injuries due to your actions
- You acted in self-defense or was defending someone else
- The alleged victim falsely accused you due to jealousy, anger, or to gain an advantage in a child custody or divorce case.
Plea bargains to lesser charges
Your criminal attorney could consider entering a guilty plea deal in exchange for a lesser charge. The strategy could help you avoid the harsh consequences of a domestic violence conviction. Common crimes you can plead to when facing a domestic crime charge are disturbing the peace (PC 415) and criminal trespass (PC 602). Pleading guilty to a lesser offense could benefit you in various ways. For instance, you retain the right to own a firearm, retain your custody rights, and avoid deportation if you are a non-citizen.
Contact a Santa Ana Domestic Violence Criminal Attorney Near Me
Being hurt is awful, and it is worse when someone close and dear is the cause of the pain. That is what renders domestic violence so horrible and why it is harshly punished in California. If you are caught harming somebody, especially your loved one, you could face charges and possible conviction.
Facing domestic violence charges could negatively impact your life’s several aspects, which is why you should hire a reputable criminal lawyer. At times a loved one could accuse you wrongly due to anger, jealousy, or revenge. At California Criminal Lawyer Group, we have experienced defense attorneys who could help you build strong defenses for a positive outcome in your case.
We are on standby around the clock to protect your rights and fight the charges laid against you. Talk to our criminal lawyers by calling 714-844-4151 when you face arrest or investigation for a domestic violence crime. We serve clients facing domestic crime charges in Santa Ana, CA.
