Picture this: A fight breaks out between you and your spouse, and then somebody contacts the police. All of a sudden, you are arrested and accused of a severe offense you might not completely understand—causing corporal injury to a spouse. If you are facing these charges, you may be wondering what they mean, how severe they are, and what your legal options are. This blog explains what "causing corporal injury upon a spouse" means under California law, how these cases are handled, and the steps you can take to defend yourself.

What Causing Corporal Injury to a Spouse Means

Under California law, a corporal injury occurs when someone willfully applies physical force that results in a traumatic condition, a term encompassing any visible wound or internal injury, regardless of severity. It could be bruising, cuts, broken bones, swelling, or internal bleeding, and it could be caused by hitting, kicking, punching, pushing, biting, or slapping. Essentially, any visible or verifiable injury, whether slight or severe, is considered a traumatic condition.

Consequently, causing corporal injury to a spouse means willfully inflicting bodily injury upon an intimate or romantic partner that leads to a traumatic condition. A romantic or intimate partner includes the following parties:

  • A former or current spouse
  • A former or current cohabitant
  • A former or present domestic partner
  • A former or current fiancée or fiancé
  • A former or current dating partner
  • An individual with whom you have a child

A few of the factors that might determine whether you are living together (cohabiting) include the following:

  • Portraying yourselves as being in a serious relationship
  • Joint ownership or utilization of property
  • Sharing of expenses or income
  • Sexual intercourse between the two of you while sharing the same residence
  • The length of the relationship
  • The relationship’s continuity

In California, it is possible to cohabit with more than one person.

Causing corporal injury to a spouse is a crime under the law, prohibited explicitly under PC Section 273.5. It is classified as a domestic violence crime. This crime is similar to domestic battery under Penal Code Section 243(e)(1), except that domestic battery does not necessitate an actual injury. For a judge to convict you of causing corporal injury to a spouse, the prosecution must demonstrate three primary elements. These are:

  • You willfully inflicted bodily harm.
  • On an ex or present intimate or romantic partner
  • That bodily harm caused a traumatic condition

If the district attorney cannot demonstrate every element beyond a reasonable doubt, the charges cannot result in a conviction for corporal injury. "Willfully inflicting an injury" means causing it intentionally or on purpose. The prosecuting attorney is not required to prove you meant to commit a crime or break a law for a judge to convict you. Note that the amount of force utilized to inflict physical injury does not matter. Also, whether the physical force was achieved using a weapon does not count. All that matters is that the physical force resulted in a traumatic condition.

Also, to be convicted for causing corporal injury upon a spouse, the D.A. must prove causation; that is, your actions made the supposed victim sustain a traumatic condition. PC Section 273.5 does not require a severe or lasting injury for a conviction. Even soreness or a red mark could subject you to a guilty verdict.

Examples of incidents that constitute causing corporal injury to a spouse include the following:

  • A husband and wife have a verbal quarrel where the husband shoves the wife, who ends up sustaining a bruise. This is enough for the court to consider the husband to have caused corporal injury to his wife, and he can be convicted.
  • Tension builds up, and a fiancé tosses a remote control in frustration, hitting his fiancée. Even indirect acts such as this can constitute causing corporal injury to a spouse.
  • During an argument, a girlfriend grabs her boyfriend's arm so hard that it leaves marks. This, too, might qualify as inflicting corporal injury on a spouse.

No two cases are the same, and law enforcement may arrest a suspect solely on the basis of a detectable injury, even when the supposed victim does not want to press charges.

Causing Corporal Injury to a Spouse Can Be a Misdemeanor or Felony

Inflicting corporal injury upon a spouse in California is what we call a wobbler offense. That means your criminal record and the circumstances surrounding the case can determine whether the prosecution will file felony charges or pursue a misdemeanor case. The district attorney may consider various factors that include:

  • The seriousness of the supposed case
  • Whether the supposed act involved repeated violence or a weapon
  • Accounts from the supposed victim and other witnesses.
  • Any previous domestic abuse-related convictions

Prosecutors typically file felony charges for causing corporal injury upon a spouse in cases that involve more severe injury, past violations, aggravating circumstances such as using weapons or force, or the presence of a record of domestic abuse complaints or any aggressive conduct. The penalties for being found guilty of violating 273.5 PC are based on whether the district attorney charged the matter as a felony or a misdemeanor.

Misdemeanor consequences for causing corporal injury upon a spouse include not more than 12 months in jail and a court fine not exceeding $6,000. Based on the facts of the case, the judge may impose an informal probation sentence in place of a jail term. On the other hand, the basic felony consequences for inflicting corporal injury upon a spouse are four, three, or two years in prison, and combined court costs and fines not exceeding $6,000. Sometimes, the presiding judge might impose a felony probation sentence rather than have you serve jail time.

If, in the past 7 years, any court has found you guilty of domestic battery against your spouse per PC Section 243e, your felony consequences for inflicting corporal injury on a spouse will be 4, 3, or 2 years of a state prison sentence and a court fine of not more than $10,000. Meanwhile, you will be subject to a five-, four-, or two-year state prison sentence and a court fine of at most $10,000 if, in the past 7 years, you have been convicted of either:

  • PC Section 273.5, corporal injury upon a spouse
  • PC Section 243d, battery or assault inflicting severe bodily harm
  • PC Section 243.4, sexual battery
  • Penal Code Section 245(a)(1), assaulting someone with a dangerous or deadly weapon.
  • PC Section 244.5, assaulting someone with a stun gun
  • PC Section 244, battery or assault with a caustic chemical

If you inflict severe injury on your spouse, you might be subject to a sentencing enhancement for great bodily injury per Section 12022.7 of the Penal Code. "Great bodily injury" means any significant physical injury. An enhancement under 12022.7 PC adds 5, 4, or 3 years of prison time, served additionally and consecutively.

As mentioned, judges can sometimes suspend your jail or prison term and instead sentence you to probation. Informal probation, which applies to misdemeanor cases, generally lasts at least 3 years. On the other hand, felony probation, which applies to felony charges, lasts 3 to 5 years and might include serving twelve months in custody. Generally, a judge will grant felony probation only when there are weighty mitigating circumstances, or it is your first time committing a criminal offense.

The presiding judge will impose certain probationary conditions, which you must comply with to continue staying out of prison or jail. These conditions can include the following:

  • Paying a court fine
  • Obeying a court-issued restraining order. Among other conditions, the order may want you to stay away from the victim involved and not contact them.
  • Not breaking more laws.
  • Completing Caltrans roadside work or community service
  • Attending a fifty-two-week domestic abuse class
  • Paying at most $5,000 to a battered woman's shelter
  • Paying victim restitution to compensate the victim in question for treatment or counseling programs, and other applicable expenses
  • A minimum mandatory jail term of:
  • Fifteen days when you have one past conviction in the last 7 years for a crime involving domestic abuse or assault
  • Sixty days when you have more than one such prior violation.

The judge can take any of three steps if you do not adhere to any probationary conditions:

  • Cancel your probation sentence and have you taken into custody to serve the maximum that your violation carries.
  • Impose newer (typically harsher) probationary conditions
  • Order you to continue to serve your probation sentence as before

Inflicting corporal injury upon your romantic partner is classified as a domestic abuse-related crime per federal immigration statutes. Thus, if you are an immigrant found guilty of this crime, you may face deportation, otherwise known as removal. That said, you want to hire a lawyer who understands both domestic violence and immigration laws. They can help you have the charges against you lowered to a non-removable offense or dismissed altogether. Doing so might be the only way you can remain in the country.

If you inflict corporal injury on a spouse and they suffer great bodily harm, your crime will be considered a strike per the Three Strikes laws and a serious felony. Thus, if a court finds you guilty of any serious felony offense and you are later accused of another violent or serious felony, the law will consider you to have a second strike. In this case, you will be subject to a sentence double the sentence otherwise required under the law. And if you already have two strike violations, the subsequent conviction for a violent or serious felony offense can subject you to a term of twenty-five years to life imprisonment.

How to Defend Yourself Against Accusations of Inflicting Corporal Injury on Your Spouse

If you have been accused of inflicting corporal injury on your spouse, it is not automatic that you will be convicted. With help from a knowledgeable defense lawyer, you may successfully raise a defense strategy that will lead to your acquittal. Some of the defenses your lawyer can argue for your strategy include the following:

You Were Defending Yourself or Another

Your legal counsel could assert self-defense for “corporal injury to a spouse” charges if you were only trying to safeguard somebody else or yourself. However, for this strategy to be valid, your legal counsel must show that the physical force you applied against your partner was non-excessive. "Excessive force" refers to applying force to inflict a traumatic condition on an intimate partner. If you used more than necessary force and consequently inflicted a traumatic condition, the judge may convict you of causing corporal injury upon a spouse.

The Evidence Against You Is Insufficient

When accused of inflicting corporal injury on a spouse, the prosecuting attorney must prove all the primary elements without a shadow of a doubt for the judge to convict. Failure to prove even one element will not lead to a conviction. Your lawyer can help you contest inconsistent or weak evidence and cast doubt in the jurors’ and the judge's minds so the charges against you can be dismissed.

You Were Wrongly or Falsely Accused

Police officers throughout California take cases of causing corporal injury to a spouse very seriously. Consequently, individuals are frequently wrongfully arrested due to false accusations initiated by victims, often out of jealousy, revenge, or anger. Victims can fabricate or exaggerate the accusations just to see their partners in trouble. Your legal counsel can help fight any unfounded allegations by:

  • Conducting a comprehensive background check against the victim and the supposed witnesses.
  • Subpoenaing the victim's text messages, social media platforms, and emails
  • Interviewing the victim in question and their friends, family, online contacts, and coworkers

In some cases, investigations often disclose that the victim in a charge of “corporal injury to a spouse” had a concealed motive. If that is the case, the prosecution may drop or reduce the charges against you via a favorable plea deal once your lawyer presents irrefutable evidence.

Your Actions Were Not Willful

A judge can convict you of causing corporal injury to a spouse only if you purposefully hurt the victim. That means accidental injuries, even those that occur in the middle of a heated exchange, do not suffice. Your lawyer can rely on eyewitness accounts and surveillance video as evidence. Also, they can subpoena forensic medical experts who can differentiate between intentionally inflicted and accidental wounds.

Each defense begins with a close review of the facts, witness statements, medical records, and arrest records.

What Happens When the Supposed Victim Refuses to Admit You Caused Corporal Injury?

In some instances, your significant other or spouse might want to withdraw all the charges against you after your arrest. They might not want you to lose your employment or go to prison, and they might want to continue staying with you. Usually, an intimate partner will withdraw their accusations against the defendant.

Sadly, once the district attorney has filed charges for causing corporal injury to a spouse, only they can drop them. Unless your case reaches the trial stage, the judge, too, does not have discretion to drop the criminal charges you face, even after the victim recants their statement. However, when an intimate partner refuses to give their testimony, it becomes challenging for the prosecution to have the defendant convicted. An experienced criminal defense lawyer can answer your questions about how the refusal of a victim to testify can affect your case’s progress.

However, even when your intimate partner refuses to testify in your corporal injury to a spouse case, the court can still convict you based on the evidence the prosecution presents against you. If, for example, your partner made a 911 call, the tape would be admitted into evidence. Thus, a jury or judge could listen to the tape even when your partner refuses to give their testimony against you. Conversely, if your partner gave a statement to law enforcement, it would be deemed hearsay and would be inadmissible in court.

If your partner does not want to testify against you, they must communicate that fact to your defense attorney. They can inform your attorney what transpired during the supposed crime, and what the police have in their report might be different from what actually occurred. Your partner can also communicate how they feel about what they want to happen in your case to your attorney. Your attorney will then use the information to persuade the prosecuting attorney to dismiss the charges against you.

Find a Skilled Domestic Violence Lawyer Near Me

Understanding what it means by causing corporal injury to a spouse provides you with information on what to expect if you are accused. For one, you want to understand that the police, prosecutors, and judges treat acts of domestic violence very seriously, and inflicting corporal injury on a spouse is one of them. It is also worth knowing that every case has its distinct characteristics. So, seeking help from an experienced lawyer is essential to receive personalized counsel and ensure efficient legal advocacy.

If you or a loved one has been accused of causing corporal injury to a spouse in San Jose, we at California Criminal Lawyer Group can help you defend yourself. Please contact our office at 408-622-0204 to speak to one of our expert attorneys in a free, confidential consultation and to share the details of your case.