New Family Violence Law Catches Chuck Knoblauch

Chuck Knoblauch, local and national baseball star, he has been charged under the new law that makes choking a family member a third degree felony.  Mr. Knoblauch enjoyed athletic success from an early age while playing baseball at Bellaire High School. Next, he moved on to Texas A&M University where he was named a second team All American.  In 1991, his rookie year with the Minnesota Twins, he won a World Series Championship and the American League Rookie of the Year Award.  Before retiring from baseball in 2003 he won three World Series Championships as a member of the New York Yankees.

Luckily, Mr. Knoblauch is presumed to be innocent.  His predicament illustrates how easily a person can be charged with a Felony in Texas now that the law has changed.  The last Texas Legislation made choking a Family Member a third degree felony even if the person does not have a criminal history.  If these allegations would have been brought forward in August of this year he would be facing misdemeanor charges.  A felony charge is much more serious with the range of punishment being two to ten years in prison as opposed to the one year maximum punishment for a misdemeanor.

The ability to file these charges as a felony gives the prosecutor another tool to extort a guilty plea from a person.  On a highly contested case the assistant district attorney will likely offer to reduce the charges to a misdemeanor.  This may seem like a fair resolution unless the person is compromising.  If this is the case they should keep in mind that a second charge of Family Violence Assault is a third degree felony just like the choking charge.