Chicago Woman Attacks Boyfriend with Shattered Wineglass

 Posted on April 06, 2012 in Assault & Battery

The Chicago Tribune reports that a woman used a broken wineglass to slash her boyfriend’s neck during an early Monday morning domestic altercation in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood. While law enforcement officials took the 51-year-old woman into custody, the injured man was transported to St. Francis Hospital in Evanston for treatment.

In the state of Illinois, the law treats domestic disputes very seriously. Pursuant to Illinois’s domestic battery statute, police must take a suspect into custody whenever they have probable cause to believe that a domestic battery occurred. Police must make a domestic battery arrest even if the victim refuses to make a statement or sign a complaint form. No matter how uncooperative the victim may be, the police still must follow the domestic battery statute.

Under Illinois law, domestic battery occurs whenever a person knowingly or intentionally caused, without legal justification, bodily harm or insulting or provoking physical contact, to a family or household member. An incident legally qualifies as a domestic battery even if it involves only a slap or push, or a very minor injury.

The penalties for domestic battery, even for a first offense, can be severe. A first offense domestic battery is a Class A misdemeanor offense in Illinois, which carries a penalty of up to one year in jail and a fine of $2,500. Second and subsequent domestic battery offenses are automatically Class 4 felony offenses, which can result in a prison sentence of one to three years, as well as a $25,000 fine. Perhaps most importantly, domestic battery convictions carry a mandatory minimum sentence of conviction, in that court supervision cannot be ordered for a domestic battery offense.

If you are charged with a domestic battery, you will need the assistance of a qualified Chicago domestic battery attorney to help you avoid a conviction or minimize the penalties that you receive if you are convicted. Contact an attorney experienced in domestic battery cases for assistance.