Assault Family Violence in Texas

We hear about this charge all the time in the news and the pendulum has shifted from a time when few arrests were made to a time now seemingly where if this charge is alleged, usually by a woman against a man, the man will almost always be arrested, whether the woman wants him to be or not.

There is a lot of government and private money funding this area of the law and there are a variety of consequences upon a conviction including it being difficult to get hired with the conviction on your record and never being allowed to possess a firearm.

Steve Brand has lectured to attorneys on this topic in a lecture entitled, “The Myths of Family Violence.”

We live in a sad time, a time in which everyone feels the need to preface everything we say with disclaimers. So here is one to start: We of course, are not in favor of assaulting anyone, much less someone’s girlfriend or spouse. But that is not what this is about. What this is about is an allegation that is made against someone now accused and whether that allegation is truthful and whether the State can prove the allegation beyond a reasonable doubt.

If you look at the language of the Assault statute under Penal Code Section 22.01, you will not even see the term, “Assault Family Violence.” That is simply a term used now all the time in the criminal justice system to make a person look worse than they are. The statute itself is just labeled assault. When the assault is alleged to involve, “a person whose relationship to or association with the defendant is described by Section 71.0021(b), 71.003 or 71.005 [of the] Family Code,” that is when many other challenges kick in such as Emergency Protective Orders, Protective Orders, enhancements for Continuous Violence Against the Family, assault impeding breath or blood flow and assault alleging against someone under one of those provisions after having been previously convicted of the same.

The State will often prosecute these cases no matter what. If the complaining witness wants to go forward with the case, they will say she is telling the truth, an assault happened and they may seek a conviction. If the complaining witness does not want to speak to the State at all, the State will argue the complaining witness lacks empowerment, the State will say she originally told the truth and they may seek a conviction. Lastly, if the complaining witness recants (says it did not happen), and/or submits an affidavit of non-prosecution saying it didn’t happen or even saying she lied, the State will say she originally told the truth, is now fearful of the accused and may seek a conviction. Such is the power of the Domestic Violence movement and groups.

We begin your case like the police and the State should also start your case (but don’t), with the presumption of innocence. We go over all the Body Cameras of law enforcement and attempt to interview the complaining witness to try to best tell what really happened.

When these cases go to trial, the State will often call an “expert” in the field of Domestic Violence to speak about the “Power and Control Wheel,” as well as the “Cycle of Violence.” These “experts” often know absolutely nothing about the relationship they are testifying about. They are there to “educate” [really mislead] the jurors by getting them to believe that Domestic Violence is pervasive in our society, it is really perpetrated the vast majority of the time by men, it fits a particular pattern and it is all about the male’s desire for power and control. This is a false narrative and extremely dangerous in that it probably aids in convicting many innocent people.

The truth is that the relationships themselves actually have the issues—usually these two people for a wide variety of reasons, just cannot get along. Studies have shown that Reciprocal Intimate Partner Violence [where the two go back and forth hitting each other] is the much more common scenario. Several studies place the rate of Reciprocal Intimate Partner Violence anywhere between 42% and 70% of the case-count for domestic abuse occurrences. In one study, in non-reciprocally violent relationships, women were the perpetrators in more than 70% of the cases. Men were more likely to inflict injury than were women which has been attributed to on average, their physical strength.

There is so much more to discuss in this arena and their “expert” needs to be exposed for this false narrative. We are able to ask those challenging questions so the State’s expert is not able to mislead a jury.

These cases are complicated whether the accuser wants to continue to cooperate with the State or not. We are here to fight for you in this unpopular arena and welcome the chance to fight the false narrative that the State attempts to sell. We are here for you!

Call us at (512) 494-4070 or request a free consultation online now relating to this specific charge.