The Short Answer
Domestic violence can be charged as a misdemeanor (up to one year in jail) or felony (up to four years in prison), and the prosecutor, not the accuser, decides whether the case proceeds. Convictions also carry protective orders, batterer programs, firearm bans, and immigration consequences. Early defense work shapes charging decisions, protective order terms, and outcomes.
Domestic violence charges reach far past the courtroom. A conviction can mean jail, a protective order that decides where you live and whether you see your children, a firearm prohibition, a 52 week batterer's program and at least three years of probation under Penal Code 1203.097, and immigration consequences. Both convictions and restraining orders show up on background checks.
There is a persistent myth that someone has to be bruised or bleeding before charges get filed. That is not the law. Shouting, an argument the neighbors hear, a thrown object — all of it gets filed. Farris Law Firm defends these cases across Orange County and Los Angeles, and the earliest work matters most, because charging decisions and protective order terms are both set early.
Domestic Violence Charges We Defend
Domestic battery (PC 243(e)(1))
Any willful, unlawful touching of a spouse, cohabitant, dating partner, or co-parent. Shoving, hitting, slapping, hair pulling. No injury is required and none has to be visible.
Corporal injury to a spouse or partner (PC 273.5)
The felony-capable version: willfully inflicting injury that results in a traumatic condition. The injury element is a real element, and it is contestable.
Disturbing the peace (PC 415)
Shouting, loud arguing, throwing and breaking objects. Not a domestic violence charge on its face, which is why it matters — but if a romantic partner is involved, DV-specific terms can still attach.
Criminal threats (PC 422)
A threat of death or great bodily injury that causes sustained fear. A wobbler, and a strike under the Three Strikes law if it is filed as a felony.
Violating a protective order (PC 273.6)
A separate crime, chargeable on its own while the underlying case is still pending. A single returned phone call can produce a new case.
Child endangerment (PC 273a)
Frequently added when children were in the home. Felony-capable under PC 273a(a) where the circumstances were likely to produce great bodily harm; a misdemeanor under PC 273a(b).
How Domestic Violence Cases Get Defended
These cases are usually built in the first twenty minutes, from a 911 call and two statements taken while everyone is still angry. That is a weak foundation, and it is where the defense starts:
- Self-defense and defense of others: the person who called first is not necessarily the person who was attacked
- False or exaggerated allegations arising from a custody fight, a divorce, or an immigration dispute, documented through the family law file and the timeline
- No traumatic condition: PC 273.5 requires an injury resulting from the force, and without one the charge does not fit no matter how loud the argument was
- Accident rather than willful conduct, which is an element the prosecution has to prove and often cannot
- Contradictions between the 911 call, the body worn camera, the written statements, and the photographs, which frequently do not line up
- Where the evidence supports it, negotiating to a charge outside the domestic violence category — simple battery, disturbing the peace — so the collateral consequences do not attach
Frequently Asked Questions
Can the alleged victim drop the charges?
No. Filing and dismissal belong to the prosecutor, not to the person who called the police. Cases go forward over the complaining witness's objection every day, often on the 911 recording and body camera footage alone. An uncooperative or recanting witness does change the evidentiary picture, and that is a legitimate factor in how a case is negotiated — but it is not a stop button.
Will I lose my gun rights?
For a period at least, and possibly permanently. A California misdemeanor domestic violence conviction, including PC 243(e), triggers a 10 year state prohibition under PC 29805; a felony is a lifetime prohibition under PC 29800. Federal law is harsher still: 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(9) imposes a lifetime ban for a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, and a PC 1203.4 expungement does not lift it. If your work requires you to carry, tell us at the first meeting.
Can a domestic violence case be diverted?
Not through the general misdemeanor statute — PC 1001.95 expressly excludes domestic violence offenses, PC 273.5 and PC 243(e) among them, from judicial diversion. Two paths remain. Informal diversion, where the prosecutor agrees to dismiss on completion of classes or counseling, is negotiated case by case and is not a right. Military diversion under PC 1001.80 carries no such exclusion and is open to current and former service members.
There is a protective order against me. What can I do?
At arraignment the court will usually issue a criminal protective order under PC 136.2. Its terms are set at that hearing — full no contact, or peaceful contact that lets you stay in the home and see your children — and which one you get is argued, not automatic. It is far harder to modify later than to shape at the outset. Until it is modified, follow it exactly: violating it is a separate crime under PC 273.6 even if the other person invited the contact.