Court affirms Illinois man's domestic battery conviction

 Posted on July 22, 2013 in Criminal Defense

An Illinois court recently affirmed the domestic violence conviction of a man arising out of an incident with his girlfriend. The man and the woman had been dating on-and-off for about seven years by the time of the March 2011 incident.

According to court documents, the man and his friend were standing outside of the woman's house when she allegedly yelled out of a window that she had slept with the mailman. The man allegedly responded by going inside, grabbing the woman by the neck, and pinning her down on her bed for a few minutes.

The incident did not leave any bruises on the woman, and she waited more than five days to report the incident.

A week after the incident the woman called the district attorney's office and asked for the charges to be dropped. She specifically said that the incident was not as serious as she first reported and that her boyfriend had not touched her. By this time it was too late and the district attorney said she could not drop the charges.

The man was ultimately convicted of two counts of domestic violence and was sentenced to two weeks in jail and a term of probation.

An appeals court upheld the conviction noting that the fact the defendant and his girlfriend were attempting to mend their relationship explained her delay in reporting and subsequent recantation. The court was also fine with the lack of physical injuries, noting that the described incident may have not resulted in any. This case demonstrates the serious nature of domestic violence charges and the consequences of police involvement during a domestic dispute.

Source: Illinois v. Howard, 2013 IL App (3d) 110900-U, July 3, 2013