Recent Posts in Family Violence Category

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.

First Steve McNair at age 36 and then Arturo Gatti at age 37. Both allegedly killed by women in their early 20s. Two retired sports figures who both had the reputation of being absolute warriors. McNair an MVP who played hurt and almost carried the Tennessee Titans to a Super Bowl victory. Gatti a former junior welterweight champion who fought in some of the best fights of his generation.

Tragic. Both still very young.  Both left behind children. In my practice as a Houston Criminal Defense Attorney I often defend those accused of Family Violence , sometimes called Domestic Violence. The overwhelming majority of these cases involve accusations of a man committing violence against a women. Although women are charged with Assault Family Violence, it is rare.

When police are called out to the scene of a "domestic disturbance" and a women is accusing a man of assault, that man better be ready to go to jail. I am confident that the intentions of  police in these situations and the prosecutors they speak with are to protect and ensure that justice is served. However, mistakes are made. Fortunately in the United States, everyone is presumed to be innocent. It my job as a Houston Criminal Lawyer to convince a prosecutor or jury of this innocence.

Gatti and McNair are examples that women can and do commit family violence.