Domestic Offenses

Misdemeanor domestic violence battery occurs when a family or household member intentionally touches another family or household member without their permission, or intentionally causes bodily harm to that person. 

If you have been accused of a domestic battery, Contact Us.

Felony domestic violence battery occurs when a family or household member intentionally or knowingly causes great bodily harm, permanent disability, or permanent disfigurement, or uses a deadly weapon.  A felony domestic battery also occurs where the person who was the victim of the battery was pregnant at the time of the offense and the offender knew or should have known that the victim was pregnant.

If you have been accused of a domestic offense, Contact Us.

Misdemeanor domestic violence assault occurs when a family or household member intentionally threatens, by word or act, to do violence to another family or household member, coupled with an apparent ability to do so, and doing some act which creates a well-founded fear in such other person that such violence is imminent.  In the domestic context, assault rises to the level of a felony assault when there is the use of a weapon.  

If you have been accused of a domestic assault, Contact Us.

Misdemeanor stalking occurs when a person willfully, maliciously, and repeatedly follows, harasses, or cyberstalks another person.  Does this include aggressive text messages? Cyberstalking includes social media and differs from cyberbullying (how?) – I just want potential client to call. I don’t want to go into these legal explanations on the site. 

If you have been accused of stalking, Contact Us.

Felony stalking can occur in any number of ways, including when:

• A person willfully, maliciously, and repeatedly follows, harasses, or cyberstalks another person and makes a credible threat to that person;
• A person who, after an injunction for protection against repeat violence, sexual violence, or dating violence, or an injunction for protection against domestic violence, or after any other court-imposed prohibition of conduct toward the subject person or that person’s property, knowingly, willfully, maliciously, and repeatedly follows, harasses, or cyberstalks another person;
• A person willfully, maliciously, and repeatedly follows, harasses, or cyberstalks a child under 16 years of age; or
• A person who, after having been sentenced for a violation of a sex offense, and prohibited from contacting the victim of the offense, maliciously, and repeatedly follows, harasses, or cyberstalks the victim.

If you have been accused of stalking, Contact Us.

Any person who is either the victim of domestic violence, or has reasonable cause to believe he or she is in imminent danger of becoming the victim of any act of domestic violence, can file a sworn petition for a restraining order, also called an injunction for protection against domestic violence.

A misdemeanor violation of a restraining order occurs when a person willfully violates a restraining order, by:

1. Refusing to vacate the dwelling that the parties share;
2. Going to, or being within 500 feet of, the petitioner’s residence, school, place of employment, or a specified place frequented regularly by the petitioner and any named family or household member;
3. Committing an act of domestic violence against the petitioner;
4. Committing any other violation of the injunction through an intentional unlawful threat, word, or act to do violence to the petitioner;
5. Telephoning, contacting, or otherwise communicating with the petitioner directly or indirectly, unless the injunction specifically allows indirect contact through a third party;
6. Knowingly and intentionally coming within 100 feet of the petitioner’s motor vehicle, whether or not that vehicle is occupied;
7. Defacing or destroying the petitioner’s personal property, including the petitioner’s motor vehicle; or
8. by having in his or her care, custody, possession, or control any firearm or ammunition.

A felony violation of restraining order occurs where a person has two or more prior convictions for violation of an injunction or foreign protection order, and subsequently commits a violation of any injunction or foreign protection order against the same victim. 

If you are facing a restraining Order, Contact Us.