Torrance, Client Breaks Wife’s Arms, No Prison, Probation

In April 2023, our client, then 46, was having breakfast with his wife in his family home in Torrance.  The couple’s high school student had already left the home for school and the couple’s older daughter was away in college.  

Our client and his wife began to argue in the kitchen area about a particular plate that the client was using.  The argument escalated quickly to a physical confrontation, wherein our client swung a stool at his wife, fracturing both forearms of his wife.  

Our client then took a wooden chopping board and beat his wife over her head, breaking the chopping board.  He then kicked his wife after she fell to the ground.  

When his wife fell to the ground, she dropped a large knife she was holding.  The knife caused a cut to her ankle area, which bled on the kitchen floor.

Our client then left the home and went to work.  The client’s wife lay on the floor, her head throbbing and wondering if she was about to die.  She laid on the kitchen floor, she told hospital staff later, for over an hour.

Later that day, the wife had her high-school age daughter (age 17) drive her to the hospital, where she at first told ER employees that she fell down on some steps at home.  Upon urging by her daughter, she then recanted this story and told hospital staff that her husband had beaten her.

The hospital notified the Torrance Police, who then transported the client, now in casts on each fractured arm, to the Torrance Police Department and interviewed her.  

Our client was arrested later that same day.  He promptly posted a bond and was released, but he stayed away from the family home because his wife had obtained an emergency restraining order against him.

The client then called Greg Hill & Associates and described what had happened.  At first, he simply explained that he and his wife had argued and a physical fight ensued, with him later being arrested.  It was only after Greg inquired about the injuries that he explained that his wife had suffered two broken arms, but the client explained this as self-defense since she had a knife.

Greg then explained how the client would certainly be charged with violating Penal Code § 273.5(a), as a felony, and that he faced state prison, most likely the mid-term of three years.  Greg explained that due to the broken arms, he also likely faced a great bodily injury sentencing enhancement of 3, 4 or 5 more years under Penal Code § 12022.7(e), as well as a deadly weapon use enhancement under Penal Code § 12022(b)(1), which added one year in state prison.  Greg explained that if the client were convicted and the great bodily injury enhancement were found true, the client faced serving a minimum of 85% of the sentence and that the offense was regarded as a “Strike” under California’s Three Strikes Law.

The client then told Greg he was not a U.S. citizen.  Greg explained that such a conviction would be considered both an aggravated felony and a crime involving moral turpitude, meaning he faced mandatory deportation back to India.

The client was extremely worried about losing his job and then not being able to support his wife and his two daughters.  He wanted to know if probation was possible.

Greg explained that probation would be very unlikely, given the injuries and the fact that he had previously been arrested for beating up his wife about ten years earlier, although the prior case was resolved as a misdemeanor. 

Greg recommended that the client immediately enroll in and start attending an approved batterer’s program, which the client did.

The client’s wife then called Greg Hill & Associates and wanted to know what punishment her husband faced and Greg explained that the case was very likely a state prison case and then deportation.  

The client’s wife, who married our client through an arranged marriage, wanted to know if the case would be dismissed if she told the police and the prosecutor that she wanted it dropped because she wanted to remain married for their children’s sake.  Greg explained that this was possible, but highly unlikely given that she suffered two broken arms.

The client then retained Greg Hill & Associates and family friends and relatives also called Greg Hill to ask about the case and the punishment that the client faced.

The case was indeed filed as Greg predicted, with the 12022.7(e) great bodily injury enhancement, as well as the deadly weapon allegation under Penal Code 12022(b))(1).

In discussing the case with the assigned prosecutor, Greg realized very soon in the case that the prosecutor believed our client had no prior criminal history at all.  However, the materials that the prosecutor provided showed the prior domestic violence record.  Greg did not correct the prosecutor or advise him he was wrong on this issue.

The police report also contained a description of the client using the cutting board to hit his wife on her head so hard that the cutting board broke into pieces.

The case made its way through the Torrance Courthouse, eventually to a preliminary hearing wherein the client ’s wife testified in court how the incident took place and that she wanted to remain married and preserve the marriage.  

Ultimately, Greg pled in the open to the judge assigned to the case after the preliminary hearing, who also believed our client had no prior criminal history.  The judge, remarkably, placed our client on five years of formal probation with two weeks in county jail, an obligation to attend 36 anger management classes (the client had already completed the 52 week batterer’s program by this time) and put in place a peaceful contact protective order so the client could move back into the house.  Throughout all of this, the client kept his job and his family remained living in the family home.  The client was extremely happy with this unusual result.