Visible Injuries and Domestic Violence Charges
When it comes to Penal Code Section 273.5, to charge this corporal injury to a spouse, there has to be some visible injury for this particular Penal Code Section. See CALCRIM 840 – inflicting injury on a spouse or cohabitant.
However, they can also charge Penal Code Section 243(e)(1), domestic battery, even if there is no visible injury. See CALCRIM 841 – simple battery against spouse, cohabitant.
They're just going to have to prove that somebody battered another person to put it under the domestic violence umbrella. There has to be some relationship between the two parties. They don't necessarily have to be husband and wife. They could be just the significant other of the person. They just can't be a stranger to jam it under the domestic violence umbrella.
Typically, what I see realistically in domestic violence cases — especially if the person has no criminal record — if there is just an argument or fight between two people, then we're typically not going to see a case filed, even if the police come and arrest people.
When they look at a case, the prosecutors look at several different things, and one of the biggest factors they look at is whether or not the individual has any injuries on them.
Suppose there's no injury, just a yelling match or some pushing and shoving. In that case, I often see the prosecutors not filing those cases and ending up doing a City Attorney hearing, for example, where we can usually avoid prosecution.
Injuries are an Important Factor in Domestic Violence Charges
That whole injury is a very important factor that prosecutors consider when deciding whether to file a criminal case against a particular person. So, if there's no injury in your case and there's an argument that it was mutual combat between you and the other party, you have a good fighting chance to avoid a conviction.
A lot of time, we will send a letter to the prosecutors prior to the filing laying out your version of events so they can see the other side of it. The police do a one-sided investigation in a lot of these cases. We will also send out character letters and make you look good in the eyes of the prosecutor, especially in a close case, so we can avoid filing altogether.
But if the person was injured — they have a black eye, or there are any marks, and the police took pictures of it, forget it. The prosecutors don't care about any letter unless there's somehow some self-defense and injuries on you as well.
They will probably file that case, which must be dealt with. So, the injury factor in a domestic violence case in Los Angeles is a huge thing. If there were no injuries in your case, you have a good fighting chance to avoid any type of filing and, therefore, any conviction.
Of course, all cases are different, and it's not always a good idea to generalize, especially in domestic violence cases where the prosecutors have such a low tolerance for letting people get away with things, and if they think somebody is involved in any type or any form of domestic violence.
They're likely to prosecute that person to the full extent of the law, even if the alleged victim doesn't want the person prosecuted. They don't care. They would rather go to trial and lose in a domestic violence case than not file a case and have the victim end up getting seriously hurt or killed and having that on their conscience and having to deal with that.
