It Is Also Known as Domestic Assault and Battery
Video Transcribed: Okay. So what’s domestic violence in Oklahoma? Hello, I’m Ty Smith, a lawyer in Oklahoma with Wirth Law. And it’s important that you know this both, as potentially if you’re a potential victim of domestic violence and you’re not sure whether you’ve just been the victim of it or if the state is looking to pursue charges against, it’s important that you know whether they have a case or not.
Domestic violence is also known as domestic assault and battery because that’s what it is. It’s assault and battery essentially against someone you have intimate relations with and you share a household. Hence, the word domestic. This can be a family member. This can be violence against… Typically, it’s an intimate partner, a wife, or a girlfriend that you currently live with.
It can be charged as both a misdemeanor and a felony depending on the circumstances. If this is the first time the state is pursuing a charge of domestic violence against you, it’s going to be charged as a felony, or excuse me, as a misdemeanor absent certain aggregating factors. If it’s charged as a misdemeanor, the maximum prison time is one year in prison, with a maximum fine of $5,000. Okay.
If this is done with the presence of aggregating factors, which I’ll go over here in a moment, it’s going to be charged as a felony, which has a maximum prison sentence of four years and a $5,000 fine. So these aggregating factors I’ve referenced are, well, first off, if it isn’t your first time being charged with domestic violence, that’s an aggregating factor and that will bump you up to a felony. Everything I’m about to list will bump you up to a felony.
If the violence is done in the presence of a child, that’ll bump it up. If the violence is done to a pregnant woman, that’ll bump it up. If the violence results in great bodily harm more than just bumps and bruises, there need to be some broken bones or severe cuts and stuff like that, that’ll bump it up. And also, if strangulation is something that’s used in domestic violence, that’s going to bump it up to a felony as well.
So if this sounds like a situation that you’re currently in, either as the victim or as someone who’s being charged by the state for this, it’s imperative that you talk to an OKC criminal defense attorney or speak to someone about the situation. And I would love it if that person were me. Once more, my name’s Ty Smith. I am at theoklahomacityattorney.com, and I would be glad to speak to you about your legal situation. If you have questions about domestic violence, please feel free to contact me.
