Battery On Spouse Prosecution in California
Battery on a Spouse/Domestic Partner Prosecution – Penal Code section 243
Battery on a spouse or domestic partner is charged separately from a regular battery under the California Penal Code. Due to the nature and frequency of domestic violence, legislatures seek to aid those who suffer from their attackers. Therefore, California Legislatures enacted a law to punish those who commit such acts harsher than they would any regular battery charge. In order to be found guilty of any crime, the prosecution must prove each element of a crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Therefore, to prove the defendant is guilty of domestic violence, the prosecuting agency must prove the following two elements:
- The defendant willfully and unlawfully touched the victim in a harmful or offensive manner; and
- The victim is the defendant’s spouse, former spouse, cohabitant, defendant’s fiancé, person with whom the defendant currently has, or previously had a dating or engagement relationship or the victim was the mother or father of the defendant’s child.
The only difference between the elements of this crime and the elements of regular battery is the requirement that the victim be in a marital and/or dating type of relationship with the victim. If the prosecution can show that a battery occurred and the victim was a person the defendant had a relationship with, then the defendant will be found guilty of domestic violence.
