What Happens If I'm Charged With Domestic Violence After Years of Being Abused in California?

Attorney Answer

Because you're now facing a felony charge and there's an active criminal protective order, the most important step is getting a criminal defense attorney involved right away, before any further contact with your spouse. What you're describing, years of abuse, is not erased by the current charge, but it needs to be raised through your attorney in the right way, not on your own.

California law allows a criminal defendant to introduce evidence of the alleged victim's history of violence when self-defense is raised, under Evidence Code section 1103. If the phone-throwing incident happened while you were defending yourself or reacting to an ongoing assault, that history matters, and your attorney needs every detail, including the prior police calls and what actually happened each time.

The current charge is likely being brought under Penal Code section 273.5, which covers corporal injury to a spouse or cohabitant and can be charged as a felony. A pattern of prior police reports, even ones you believe were exaggerated or false, can complicate your case, so it's important your attorney reviews those reports directly rather than relying on memory.

This is critical: if a criminal protective order is in place, you must follow it completely, even if your spouse contacts you, asks you to come back, or says she no longer wants the order. Violating a protective order, even at her request, is a separate crime. The criminal protective order in a pending domestic violence case is issued under Penal Code section 136.2, and a willful and knowing violation of it is contempt of court, a misdemeanor, under Penal Code section 166(c)(1). (Penal Code section 273.6, the section people often cite, reaches Family Code section 6218 restraining orders and civil orders under Code of Civil Procedure sections 527.6, 527.8, and 527.85 — not your criminal order.) A new charge like that makes your current case much harder to defend.

What you can do

1. Contact a California criminal defense attorney immediately, ideally one experienced in domestic violence cases. 2. Do not have any contact with your spouse while the protective order is active, regardless of what she says or asks. 3. Whether to write anything down is a decision for your lawyer, not one to make on your own. What you experienced may matter a great deal to your defense, but an account you prepare yourself is not protected by attorney-client privilege, can be seized or subpoenaed, and can be used to impeach you if your testimony later differs. Preserve the records that already exist — photographs, texts, medical records and any prior reports — and take the history to a local criminal defense attorney, asking whether and in what form they want it recorded. 4. Do not discuss the case with police, your spouse, or on social media without your attorney present.

Given the felony charge and the safety issues on both sides of this relationship, this needs individual review by a criminal defense attorney as soon as possible. This is general legal information, not legal advice, and a California criminal defense attorney can advise you on your specific situation.