Massachusetts Strangulation Lawyer serving Massachusetts and the Greater Boston area including South Boston, Brockton, Cambridge, Somerville, Quincy, New Bedford, Taunton, Attleboro, Lowell, Woburn, Medford, Waltham, Wareham, Lynn, Lawrence, Wrentham, Dedham, Salem, Fall River, Brookline, Chelsea, Worcester, Framingham, Everett, Revere, Dorchester and Roxbury and all smaller cities and rural areas in Massachusetts.
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New Laws Regarding Domestic Violence
In August 2014 Governor Deval Patrick signed a bill that created new criminal offenses related to domestic violence. The law amended chapter 265 creating two new crimes: assault and battery on household members, as well as suffocation and strangulation.
The strangulation law was created because in the past prosecutors had to resort to charging someone with attempted murder or simple assault if they strangled a family member. Domestic violence occurs many different ways and this law recognizes that partners sometimes strangle a loved one in order to exert dominance or control or to incite panic in their partner. Strangulation is committed to make the victim suffer and not to kill. Prosecutors had trouble convicting loved ones of attempted murder by strangulation. This often left them charging offenders with simple assault and battery which, while easier to prove, carries little punishment.
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Punishment
Strangulation is a felony offense and a defendant convicted for the first time can be punished with a term of up to five years in state prison, or 2 ½ years in a house of correction, and a fine of up to $5,000. When there is domestic abuse, a batterer’s program is also required so anyone found guilty of strangulation or that accepts a continuance without a finding for strangulation must complete a certified batterer’s intervention program unless “the court issues specific written findings describing the reasons that batterer’s intervention should not be ordered or unless the batterer’s intervention program determines that the defendant is not suitable for intervention.”
Experienced Massachusetts Criminal Defense Attorneys for Domestic Assault Crimes; Suffocation and Strangulation Charges
If you have been charged with an assault crime, domestic assault and battery charges, or any violent crime, we want to hear your side of the story. Call Massachusetts Criminal Defense Attorneys today at The Law Offices of Gerald J. Noonan today at (508) 588-0422 for your free legal consultation.
Our Massachusetts Strangulation Lawyer represents residents of Plymouth County including Brockton, Abington, Bridgewater, Whitman, Hanson, Hingham, Wareham, Halifax, Middleborough, Rockland, Lakeville, Holbrook, Avon, Kingston, Pembroke, Plympton, Pembroke, Hanover, Carver, Duxbury, Marshfield, Norwell, Hanover, Scituate, East/West Bridgewater, Rochester, Marion, Mattapoisett; Norfolk County including Quincy, Stoughton, Dedham, Weymouth, Braintree, Avon, Holbrook, Randolph, Canton, Sharon, Wrentham, Foxborough, Franklin, Walpole; Bristol County including New Bedford, Fall River, Taunton, Attleboro, Mansfield, Easton, Raynham, Norton; Cape Cod, Falmouth, Barnstable.
