Aggravating factors in a California domestic violence stalking case

Stalking will be charged against an individual as a California domestic violence crime when it is committed against the individual’s intimate partner. Persons who are dating, who used to be dating, who are married, divorced, living together or who have children in common are considered intimate partners regardless of whether they are heterosexual or homosexual. Stalking one’s intimate partner involves following or harassing that partner and threatening him or her to the point where the partner reasonably fears for his or her safety. Those circumstances, by themselves, will cause the crime to be filed as either a misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in county jail and a maximum fine of $1,000 or as a felony, punishable by up to one year in the state prison.

However, there are certain aggravating factors that, if present at the time of the charged incident, will force a judge to impose a much more severe sentence. An aggravating factor is a fact or circumstance that makes an alleged crime even more disturbing than had that fact or circumstance not existed. When an aggravating fact does exist, it usually means that a court will impose the strictest available penalty when it is within the court’s discretion to do so. This is one reason why an individual who is accused of stalking should contact a criminal defense lawyer immediately upon an arrest. The experienced attorneys at the Kavinoky Law Firm specialize in defending California D.V. cases. They aggressively defend their clients by arguing against the injustice that maximum sentencing invites and do their best to keep all penalties to a minimum.

Stalking, as a domestic abuse crime, generally has three aggravating factors that are most commonly seen in connection with this charge - great bodily injury, violating an order already in place and prior convictions.

If an individual inflicted great bodily injury upon his or her intimate partner while stalking that individual, he or she faces three to five years in the state prison in addition to and consecutive with any prison time that would have been ordered had the injury not been sustained. A good defense attorney may argue that the injury was the result of an accident and not directly the fault of the accused if such an argument could be justified by the facts.

Stalking an intimate partner in violation of a court order prohibiting such conduct against that same partner will also result in a stiffer prison sentence. If convicted of stalking under these circumstances, the defendant will definitely face a felony, punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for at least two years and as many as four.

Prior convictions for stalking or for other crimes will also warrant a more severe sentence for a convicted defendant. If the defendant was previously convicted of a felony stalking charge, he or she will face a felony, punishable by either two, three or five years in the state prison. If he or she was previously convicted of infliction of injury, violation of a court order or criminal threats and is convicted in the pending case, he or she may face the same penalty as if he or she hadn’t been previously convicted or may face a felony, punishable by either two, three or five years in the state prison, depending on the circumstances surrounding the incident and on how much time elapsed since the last conviction.

When aggravating factors exist, it is even more critical for an accused to hire a skilled attorney from the Kavinoky Law Firm who is familiar with all of the special issues that are raised in intimate partner abuse cases and, more specifically, in a stalking case. An attorney from the Kavinoky Law Firm will do his or her best to persuade the court that alternative sentencing better serves the interests of justice than incarceration and will argue that additional sentencing would simply be unjust. Click here for a free consultation and for the best representation.