Domestic violence crimes often occur between a husband and wife. While the husband is sometimes the victim, it is more common for the wife to be the victim. Such crimes include assault, rape, stalking, harassment, menacing, and strangulation. Sadly, in some cases the wife is seriously injured or even killed by her husband. Because the incidence of domestic violence against wives is high and the aftermath can be devastating, the police are quick to arrest and charge husbands accused of domestic violence. If you are convicted of even the least serious crime related to a domestic violence incident you could end up in prison, you could be required to abide by a restraining order, you could face significant fines, and you will end up with a criminal record. However, things are not always as they seem, and just because you are arrested and charged does not necessarily mean that you will be convicted. There may be defenses available to will force the prosecutor to drop the charges or reduce the charges. Or such defenses may help you to be acquitted after a trial. For these reasons if you are accused of a crime related to domestic violence against your wife, it is crucial that you immediately contact an experienced Manhattan Domestic Violence Against a Wife Lawyer who understands the law related to domestic violence crimes and who will vigorously defend you against the criminal charges.
In New York domestic violence is not one particular crime, but is a term that used when certain physically violent or threatening crimes are committed between people who have a family or intimate relationship. Examples of such relationships include people who are married, dating, living together as romantic partners, roommates or family members. Crimes that are associated with domestic violence include disorderly conduct, harassment, sex crimes, stalking, assault, and reckless endangerment.
Disorderly conduct. Disorderly conduct is a common domestic violence charge. Unlike other types of domestic violence to face a disorderly conduct charge, the prohibited conduct must occur with the intent to cause a public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm. The prohibited conduct includes fighting and other violent behavior, making unreasonably loud noise, engaging in threatening behavior, using obscene or abusive language. N.Y. Pen. Law § 240.20. Disorderly conduct is not a misdemeanor or felony, but a violation. This means that if charged with and convicted of disorderly conduct, you will not go to prison, but will be required to pay a fine.
Harassment and aggravated harassment. The legal definition of criminal harassment is similar to the common, dictionary definition. It is behavior that is annoying and alarming to another person. For example, if you hit, push, kick, follow or engage in other alarming conduct against your wife, you could face a harassment in the first or second degree charge. N.Y. Pen. Law § 240.25 and 240.26. Your actions will be considered more serious and dangerous if you harass your wife by means of a letter, phone, or email. The charge will be aggravated harassment in the second degree. N.Y. Pen. Law § 240.30. A common way that such harassment is accomplished is through texting or email. However, for an aggravated harassment in the second degree charge to stick based on making unwanted telephone calls, you would have to make the calls for no legitimate reason.
Sex crimes. It is important to understand that even if you are married, you can be charged with a sex crime if you have sexual contact with your wife without her consent. It is a type of domestic violence. Under the New York Penal Law there are several different types of sex crimes. The common factor that makes sexual contact a crime is the lack of consent. If you have sexual intercourse, oral sex, anal sex or any other type of sexual contact with your girlfriend, wife, partner, roommate, or anyone else without that person's consent, you could face one of several sexual assault charges. Even if you are in a romantic relationship with the person such as marriage, cohabitating or dating, if you have sex with that person without his or her consent, then you have committed an act of domestic violence involving sexual assault. Examples of the sex crime charges that you may face include: sexual misconduct, sexual abuse, and rape.
Assault. Assault is among the most common offenses related to incidents of domestic violence. If you recklessly or negligently injure your wife, you would have assaulted her. It does not matter if you did not intend to hurt her. N.Y. Pen. Law § 120.00. There are several different offenses related to assault. For example, if you assault your wife with the intent to seriously harm her and you do in fact seriously harm her, you will face a charge of assault in the second degree. N.Y. Pen. Law § 120.05. While this type of assault often involves the use of a deadly weapon such as a gun or a knife, the "weapon" can be almost anything that can cause someone harm. For example, in People v. Hines, 833 N.Y.S.2d 721 (2007) the defendant was charged with assault in the second degree after kicking the victim in the head with steel-toed boots.
You will face an assault in the first degree charge if you used a dangerous weapon and you also caused the victim a serious injury, the intent of the assault was to permanently disfigure, or the assault was with depraved indifferent to human life. N.Y. Pen. Law § 120.10. For example, in the case of People v. Russell, 824 N.Y.S.2d 684 (2006), the defendant was convicted of assault in the first degree because he punched the victim several times, causing her to lose her right eye.
Reckless endangerment. You will face a charge of reckless endangerment if you do something that created a significant risk of causing another person serious injury. N.Y. Pen. Law § 120.20. To support a reckless endangerment in the first degree charge the prosecution must show that your actions posed a substantial risk of serious injury to another person, that your actions showed a depraved indifference to human life, and that they posed a risk of death to another person. N.Y. Pen. Law § 120.25.
Stalking. While stalking can involve following another person, in order to be charged with stalking your wife, there are other behaviors that can amount to stalking. Stalking is defined as engaging in the following activity:
N.Y. Pen. Law § 120.45
Strangulation. Strangulation is a very dangerous act that involves obstructing the breathing or blood circulation of another person. To face a charge of strangulation in the second degree, while strangling the victim you also cause her to lose consciousness, fall into a stupor, or cause a physical injury. N.Y. Pen. Law § 121.12. A strangulation charge will be raised to the more serious charge of strangulation in the first degree if the victim suffers serious injury. N.Y. Pen. Law § 121.13.
Orders of ProtectionIf you are arrested and charged with a crime where the victim is involved in domestic relationship with you, one of the first things that the prosecutor will do is ask the judge to issue an Order of Protection in favor of the victim. The purpose of the Order of Protection would be to keep the victim safe from harm or further harm. The Order will require you to stay away from the victim or to refrain from any harassing or threatening actions targeted to the victim. For example, the Order may require you to refrain from communicating with the victim via telephone, mail, or electronically, refrain from injuring pets, pay child support, pay expenses related to the victim's hospitalizations that were the result of your abusive actions, move out of the residence, and to surrender any guns you possess. N.Y. FCT. Law § 842; N.Y. FCT. Law § 842-A
Punishment for convictionA conviction for a crime related to domestic violence can result in a sentence of a fine, probation, jail, or prison. The sentence that you receive depends on a number of factors including whether the crime is a misdemeanor or a felony and whether you have a prior criminal record. In addition, domestic violence defendants commonly face more than one criminal charge. Your overall sentence will be more severe if you are convicted of multiple offenses.
For example, in the case of People v. Russell, a jury convicted the defendant of assault in the first degree and assault in the second degree based on a domestic violence incident. Because the defendant was a persistent violent felony offender, he was sentenced to two concurrent terms of 20 years to life in prison.
In addition to being sentenced to time in jail or prison or instead of being sentenced to jail or prison, your sentence may include probation. The length of your probation term depends on whether the crime was a misdemeanor or a felony. If the crime was a sex offense, then the probation term will be twice as long as it otherwise would be.
Prison and probation sentences are served concurrently. This means that if you are sentenced to 3 years in prison and 5 years probation for a felony conviction, you will serve the first 3 years of your probation term while you are in still in prison, leaving you to serve 2 years probation after you are released from prison.
If you are placed on probation, there will be many rules that you will be required to follow or risk being sent to prison. The rules will include that you must not commit a crime, must not associate with people with criminal backgrounds, must not go to disreputable places, must not drink alcohol excessively, must not use illegal drugs, must have a job, and you must support your family. You will also be required to regularly report to your probation officer. Under New York Criminal Procedure Law, if your probation officer suspects that you have violated the terms of your probation, you will be summoned to court. The judge will determine whether to revoke your probation, continue it, or modify the terms of your probation. N.Y. CPL. Law § 410.70
If you are convicted of a sex offense such as rape or sexual abuse, you will be required to register as a sex offender under the New York Sex Offender Registration Act. Such registration means that you must supply certain personal information and information related to your crime to law enforcement which will be added to a sex offender database. N.Y. Cor. Law § 168. Such information includes your name, aliases, date of birth, sex, race, height, weight, eye color, home address, internet screen names and email addresses. If you are a student you will have to provide its name and address. In addition, you will have to be regularly photographed. If you do not follow these rules, you can be arrested and charged with a Class D felony that could result in jail or prison time.
Facing a charge of assault, sexual assault, stalking, harassment, reckless endangerment or any other crime based on accusations from your wife is emotionally painful. In addition to possibly facing a prison, you may also be facing the breakup of your marriage and the loss of other family connections. In order to effectively defend a case involving domestic violence, it is necessary to understand both the fine details of criminal law as well as the sensitive issues involved in family conflicts. The staff at Stephen Bilkis & Associates, PLLC has years of experience successfully defending clients in New York criminal courts who have been charged with crimes related to domestic violence such as stalking, reckless endangerment, rape, assault, strangulation, child endangerment and murder. Contact us at 800.696.9529 to schedule a free, no obligation consultation regarding your case. We serve those accused of domestic violence in the following locations: