Domestic assault is an assault against a member of a family or a household, or a past or current dating partner. Such an assault involves intentionally, knowingly or recklessly causing bodily injury to that person; intentionally or knowingly threatening the person with imminent bodily injury—or intentionally or knowingly causing physical contact with the person when the offender knows or reasonably should know that the victim will find such contact provocative or offensive.

If the defendant has no previous domestic assault convictions, such a crime usually is a misdemeanor, with punishments in the neighborhood of up to 1 year in jail and a fine of up to $4,000. For a defendant with a previous domestic assault conviction, the crime of domestic assault is more serious, with punishments of maybe 2 to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.

There are a couple of ways to avoid jail or prison for domestic assault. Chief among them are deferred prosecution and probation.

DEFERRED PROSECUTION
One alternative that’s often offered to first-time offenders is “deferred prosecution.” This may be granted when the defendant pleads guilty and the court postpones sentencing for a period of time.

During that time the defendant must comply with probation orders, must have no new arrests and must complete such requirements as finishing domestic violence offender treatment, doing volunteer work in the community or paying restitution.

Restitution involves paying a victim for any costs caused by the crime, such as medical or counseling expenses or the costs to repair or replace property which was damaged in the crime.

When those things are done successfully, the court can dismiss the case and discharge the defendant. However, the arrest, the deferred prosecution and the dismissal will remain on the defendant’s criminal record.

Failure to do these things means the court can enter a conviction and impose a sentence from among those noted above.

Deferred prosecution is not available as a sentencing alternative when the crime is aggravated domestic assault, which can be a first- or second-degree felony, or continuous violence against the family, which is a third-degree felony.

PROBATION
Another alternative to jail or prison when it comes to the crime of domestic assault is probation.

When a defendant pleads guilty or is convicted, the court can grant community supervision instead of imposing a jail or prison sentence. This can be for up to 2 years for a misdemeanor and up to 10 years for a felony.

The court may require a defendant to serve some jail or prison time before starting community supervision. Usually, that is 180 days for a felony and 30 days for a misdemeanor. Then, the community supervision or probation period begins.

If the defendant fails to comply with the community supervision conditions imposed by the court, he or she must return to jail or prison to complete the sentence.

Alexander Truluck focuses his practice as a criminal defense attorney in Clearwater, Palm Harbor, Largo, Dunedin and the Tampa Bay area.

For more information, visit our website at http://www.criminallawyerclearwaterflorida.com
or call (727) 799-3550.

It’s hard to imagine that the criminals may not have to worry about selling heroine, but

they have to watch out for giving grandma some cranberries. With the virus statistics spiking and getting out of hand, many local governments are seeing to make regulations based on preventing the spread of the virus. That includes limiting the number of people allowed at your thanksgiving dinner table. However, the good news is in. The police in New York have better things to do than bust grandma for eating a candied yam.

According to Newser.com :

If you’re a New Yorker who is worried that your Thanksgiving head count could get you in trouble, a number of sheriffs are suggesting you be more concerned about getting the lumps out of your gravy. While the state is currently under an executive order issued by Gov. Andrew Cuomo that limits indoor and outdoor gatherings at family homes to 10 guests to hinder the spread of COVID, sheriffs in counties including Rensselaer, Erie, and Saratoga are coming out to publicly say they have no plans to count cars in driveways or do any other form of enforcing, with the New York Times quoting one upstate sheriff as saying his office would never muck with “the great tradition of Thanksgiving dinner.” Another announced that going home to home “to see how many Turkey or Tofu eaters are present is not a priority.” Officials in New York City expressed they had better things to do, too.

Sheriff Richard Giardino of Fulton County, northwest of Albany, stated on Facebook that residents don’t even need to try to hide their violation of the order: “Monitoring family dinners [isn’t] our priority. Don’t feel a need to hide cars, cover with leaves or walk 3 blocks so your house doesn’t become a target of the Governors EO,” he wrote. The same doesn’t appear to be true on Long Island, where the Suffolk County PD said they were ramping up holiday staffing so that they could respond to complaints that are called in.

Alexander Truluck focuses his practice as a criminal defense attorney in Clearwater, Palm Harbor, Largo, Dunedin and the Tampa Bay area.

For more information, visit our website at http://www.criminallawyerclearwaterflorida.com
or call (727) 799-3550.