What Is Continuous Family Violence?
– IT, Texas
Answer:
Continuous family violence is a new offense created by the legislature in 2009. A first time family violence case is normally a Class “A” misdemeanor punishable by no more than a year in county jail.
Under the continuous family statute, a first charged offense can be punished as a third degree felony with a punishment range of two to ten years in prison. The statute requires the prosecutor to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant committed the offense of family violence at least twice in a twelve month period.
The jury does not have to agree on the specific date that the offenses occurred as long they find they occurred within 12 months. What this means is that the defendant may have a problem using an alibi defense.
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