Abuse of a Household Member can range from a Petty Misdemeanor, with up to 30 days in jail and a 1000 dollar fine to a Class C felony with up to five years in jail and/or a 10,000 dollar fine. Choking a Household Member, or assaulting a Household Member in front of a child under the age of 14 is a felony. So is repeated convictions over a five year period.
Abuse of a Household Member is an assault, causing pain or injury, to a Household Member. A Household Member is anyone whom you had been in a dating relationship with, a family member, or someong you lived with in the past. There are mandatory penalties that don't usually attach to a regular assault case.
Mr. Burge has been the lead counsel in dozens of Abuse of a Household Member trials.
The penalties are as follows:
(1) Abuse of a family or household member and refusal to comply with the lawful order of a police officer under subsection (4) are misdemeanors and the person shall be sentenced as follows:
(a) For the first offense the person shall serve a minimum jail sentence of forty-eight hours; and
(b) For a second offense that occurs within one year of the first conviction, the person shall be termed a “repeat offender” and serve a minimum jail sentence of thirty days.
(2) It shall be a petty misdemeanor for a person to intentionally or knowingly strike, shove, kick, or otherwise touch a family or household member in an offensive manner; subject the family member or household member to offensive physical contact; or exercise coercive control, as defined in section 586-1, over a family or household member and the person shall be sentenced as provided in sections 706-640 and 706-663. Upon conviction and sentencing of the defendant, the court may order that the defendant immediately be incarcerated to serve the mandatory minimum sentence imposed; provided that the defendant may be admitted to bail pending appeal pursuant to chapter 804. The court may stay the imposition of the sentence if special circumstances exist.
(3) Whenever a court sentences a person or grants a motion for deferral pursuant to subsections (5) and (6), it shall also require that the offender first complete, within a specified time frame, an assessment at any available domestic violence intervention program, and then complete a domestic violence intervention or anger management course as determined by the domestic violence program, and, if the offense involved the presence or abuse of a minor, any available parenting classes ordered by the court. The court shall revoke the defendant’s probation or set aside the defendant’s deferred acceptance of guilty plea and enter an adjudication of guilt, if applicable, and sentence or resentence the defendant to the maximum term of incarceration if:
(a) The defendant fails to complete, within the specified time frame, any domestic violence intervention course, anger management course, or parenting classes ordered by the court; or
(b) The defendant violates any other term or condition of the defendant’s probation or deferral imposed by the court;
provided that, after a hearing on an order to show cause, the court finds that the defendant has failed to show good cause why the defendant has not timely completed the domestic violence intervention course, anger management course, or parenting classes, if applicable, or why the defendant violated any other term or condition of the defendant’s sentence. However, the court may suspend any portion of a jail sentence, except for the mandatory sentences under subsection (5)(a) and (b), upon the condition that the defendant remain arrest-free and conviction-free or complete court-ordered intervention.
(4) For a third or any subsequent offense that occurs within two years of a second or subsequent conviction, the offense shall be a class C felony.
(5) Where the physical abuse consists of intentionally or knowingly causing bodily injury by impeding the normal breathing or circulation of the blood by:
(a) Applying pressure on the throat or the neck with any part of the body or a ligature;
(b) Blocking the nose and mouth; or
(c) Applying pressure to the chest,
abuse of a family or household member is a class C felony; provided that infliction of visible bodily injury shall not be required to establish an offense under this subsection.
For the purposes of this subsection, “bodily injury” shall have the same meaning as in section 707-700.
(6) Where physical abuse occurs in the presence of a minor, as defined in section 706-606.4, and the minor is a family or household member less than fourteen years of age, abuse of a family or household member is a class C felony.
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