Wife Arrested After Being Pushed and Injured by Husband

[kraftymonkey]

My question involves criminal law for the state of: backwoods town, population <20k TN

I'm older but was over at my parents house, who are going through a divorce. I wasn't in the room.
They were arguing very loudly and then there was some yelling and the police showed up and took my mom to jail.

She called her counselor, who said to call the battered woman's shelter, who in turn called the police for her.
Her story:
They were bickering, he tried to walk off down the wall, she put her hands on his chest and asked him to wait and listen to her. (probably yelling I assume)
Instead of waiting, he shoved her hard, about six feet back into and across the living room, where she stumbled backwards over stuff in the floor and fell into the wall.
She had a cut on her arm and a large bruise forming on her shoulder.

His story: He tried to move her out of the way and accidentally pushed too hard.

Two officers came. They interviewed both parents and children in the room.
Then they took my mom to jail under TCA 39-13-111 assault - domestic, saying that she started it and they couldn't leave without taking "someone" to jail.
He was neither charged with assault or battery.
She is now not allowed within range of the house without an officer.

WTF. So a woman who calls in with a domestic violence report now has to wonder if the cops are going to take her to jail, even with fresh marks? Isn't it difficult enough for women to work up the courage to call in the first place?

My gf proposed this, if she grabbed my arm to stop me from going into the kitchen and I turned around and hit her or shoved her then SHE could potentially go to jail?

I need to know some recourse here. Thanks in advance.




p.s. I'm not there anymore and my siblings are with a man who has been increasingly more angry over the last few months.

[Mr. Knowitall]

If you intentionally obstruct somebody's ability to leave a room or house, or lay your hands on somebody without their express or implied consent, that can be charged as a battery. Could both of your parents be charged based upon what you have said? I expect so. Here it sounds like the police resolved the situation by arresting the person who transformed the argument into a physical encounter, and are leaving it up to a prosecutor to decide if dad's response was excessive under the circumstances or might also justify charges.

[cdwjava]

YOU do not have any recourse. MOM can hire an attorney to defend her. if she cannot afford an attorney and the state pursues these charges against her, counsel will be appointed on her behalf.

Besides, YOU do not know what happened - you were not in the room, remember? Your knowledge of events is based upon what others are telling you, and that might not be the entire truth.

In all honesty, both parents likely deserve some of the blame here. One would hope that they have learned from this that future contacts should be avoided.

[kraftymonkey]

YOU do not have any recourse. MOM can hire an attorney to defend her. if she cannot afford an attorney and the state pursues these charges against her, counsel will be appointed on her behalf.

1. Obviously. 2. Obviously. 3. That's part of miranda, so again...

Besides, YOU do not know what happened - you were not in the room, remember?

I said this already. Remember?

In all honesty, both parents likely deserve some of the blame here. One would hope that they have learned from this that future contacts should be avoided.

agreed.

Thank you for the input, but there's need to treat me like an imbecile. Mom is in jail, Dad is strutting like he just won the lottery, and all I wanted to do was point her in the right direction.

[cdwjava]

1. Obviously. 2. Obviously. 3. That's part of miranda, so again...

The appointment of counsel is not part of Miranda. It's a 6th Amendment issue, however.

Thank you for the input, but there's need to treat me like an imbecile. Mom is in jail, Dad is strutting like he just won the lottery, and all I wanted to do was point her in the right direction.

And the right direction would be to listen to her attorney.

What other options were you hoping to find? There is no miracle cure to mom's situation. Mom made a mistake and dad did as well. Just in this case, mom caught the short end of the stick.

[viol8te]

You are not being treated like an imbecile. The police made a choice to arrest the person that they saw as the aggressor. The only thing that can happen now is that this case gets investigated by the attorneys' office to see if prosecuting the charge is warranted. However, by definition, your mom committed a battery.

Your position is well established. You feel that his actions were more deserving of the arrest than her's. But, it's not that cut and dry. I've seen plenty of situations were the guy had the marks on him and went to jail beacuse he initially escalated the incident with a grab and let up and she tee'd off on him.

Your girlfriend's example does not equate to your parent's scenario.

[kraftymonkey]

So somehow the charges were dropped today. My dad never wanted them to begin and told the police so. And I'm under the impression that the state of TN maintains these charges after the incident has been reported. Is that correct? Would the DA or other have had to review the case today and decide to dismiss the charges?

Anyway, facts. How did my mom commit battery? I'm sorry to doubt your expertise, voil8te, however you don't seem to be researching your claims. I can not find a battery code in TN. It seems to be called aggravated assault. I'm quoting the laws for both here so that there will be no more misunderstandings.
[quote]39-13-101. Assault.

(a) A person commits assault who:
(1) Intentionally, knowingly or recklessly causes bodily injury to another;
(2) Intentionally or knowingly causes another to reasonably fear imminent bodily injury; or
(3) Intentionally or knowingly causes physical contact with another and a reasonable person would regard the contact as extremely offensive or provocative.

39-13-102. Aggravated assault.
(a) A person commits aggravated assault who:
(1) Intentionally or knowingly commits an assault as defined in § 39-13-101 and:
(A) Causes serious bodily injury to another; or
(B) Uses or displays a deadly weapon; or
(2) Recklessly commits an assault as defined in § 39-13-101(a)(1), and:
(A) Causes serious bodily injury to another; or
(B) Uses or displays a deadly weapon.[/quote]


So, Through 39-13-111, which refers to 101-110.
A 120 lbs 5'2" woman was charged with 101.a.3 against a 210 lbs 6'2" man, who, bereft of the divorce would have ignored this as threatening.

Know I know they were minor injuries, however, when the man was questioned, he was not charged with 101 OR more specifically 102.a.2.A (recklessly)

Anyway.

To be very clear. I love my father, but I am seriously hurt by his blatant disrespect for women recently, when he is the one who taught be to never be violent.
I removed myself from the situation to avoid making any legal mistakes in his presence.
And when my mother called to say it was dismissed. I responded that it was over now, she continue speaking to her divorce lawyer and be glad / drop it.

I'm just wondering how this could happen.
I know you say this doesn't apply to my current relationship, however I know now that if my gf ever blocks me and physically touches me, I can shove her, cause minimal damage, and have her arrested for domestic violence.

That's f'd up.

But I guess you guys are right. My mother deserved jail time for calling the domestic violence hotline.

[cdwjava]

So somehow the charges were dropped today. My dad never wanted them to begin and told the police so. And I'm under the impression that the state of TN maintains these charges after the incident has been reported. Is that correct? Would the DA or other have had to review the case today and decide to dismiss the charges?

It is likely that the DA chose not to pursue the matter after reviewing the case. He may still pursue it later, or might even charge dad ... who knows? It may just mean that they were not prepared to go ahead with arraignment today so they will act on it later.

Anyway, facts. How did my mom commit battery?

In some states "battery" is what your state calls "assault."

From your quoted statute:

39-13-101. Assault.

(a) A person commits assault who:
(1) Intentionally, knowingly or recklessly causes bodily injury to another;
(2) Intentionally or knowingly causes another to reasonably fear imminent bodily injury; or
(3) Intentionally or knowingly causes physical contact with another and a reasonable person would regard the contact as extremely offensive or provocative.

To be very clear. I love my father, but I am seriously hurt by his blatant disrespect for women recently, when he is the one who taught be to never be violent.

Understandable. But, the police arrested the party they saw as being the primary aggressor, or instigator, of the incident. That was, apparently, your mom. If the DA has failed to pursue the matter it could be that the DA does not agree that there is sufficient grounds to charge her ... at least at this time

I'm just wondering how this could happen.

Because they fought and the police got involved.

I know you say this doesn't apply to my current relationship, however I know now that if my gf ever blocks me and physically touches me, I can shove her, cause minimal damage, and have her arrested for domestic violence.

Uh huh ... sure you can. All because your mom got arrested does not mean that you can get away with it, too.

Of course, I know you said that with bitter sarcasm.

But I guess you guys are right. My mother deserved jail time for calling the domestic violence hotline.

Please cite where anyone said that.

Mom got arrested because the police were notified, the police responded, and the police looked into the matter and determined there was probable cause to arrest your mom for the incident.

[kraftymonkey]

It is likely that the DA chose not to pursue the matter after reviewing the case. He may still pursue it later, or might even charge dad ... who knows? It may just mean that they were not prepared to go ahead with arraignment today so they will act on it later.

I am confused by that. It sounds like you're basically saying the charges were put on hold. She was told the case was dismissed. So can they reopen it afterwards? Doesn't another incident have to occur?

Of course, I know you said that with bitter sarcasm.

Yes and thank you for detecting that. She actually read over my shoulder as I posted it.
I apologize for being so abrasive yesterday. It was a long day and I was trying my best to keep my cool and understand the situation objectively. I know a lot of things could have been handled differently and the cops probably didn't need to be involved to be honest. I just did not like the idea that if a woman calls the hotline for domestic violence she has to fear being taken to jail herself. I think some of it may also be because of the size of the town.

Anyway, I have my major answers, I appreciate the help, and I'm glad it didn't turn out worse.

[Mr. Knowitall]

I am confused by that. It sounds like you're basically saying the charges were put on hold. She was told the case was dismissed. So can they reopen it afterwards? Doesn't another incident have to occur?

As a technical matter, they can authorize charges as long as the statute of limitations has not run. As a practical matter, once the decision is made not to proceed with a prosecution it's rarely revisited.