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DOMESTIC BATTERY BY STRANGULATION (F.S. § 784.041(2)(a))
NO PROSECUTION — STATE DECLINED TO FILE CHARGES
Escambia County, FL
1 de junio de 2026
Client was arrested in Escambia County for Domestic Battery by Strangulation (F.S. § 784.041(2)(a)), a third-degree felony carrying up to 5 years in Florida State Prison and a $5,000 fine. Battery by strangulation is among the most aggressively charged offenses in Florida domestic violence practice — it scores as a Level 6 offense on the Criminal Punishment Code, frequently results in prison, and on conviction brings a 29-week Batterer's Intervention Program, a permanent domestic violence designation that cannot be sealed or expunged, and a lifetime federal firearms ban under the Lautenberg Amendment.
This case was resolved at the stage most defendants never get help with: before the State Attorney made a charging decision. Counsel appeared at first appearance and the defense went to work immediately rather than waiting for an information to be filed. The facts did not match the charge. The client had been the person who called law enforcement. The alleged victim maintained from the outset that the incident had been misread, went to the State Attorney's Office of her own accord, met with the victim advocate, and executed a sworn affidavit asking that the charges be dropped. Because the court had entered a no-violent-contact order rather than a full no-contact order, the household was never forcibly separated while the matter was pending. The defense made sure the State had all of it in hand before the filing decision was made. The State Attorney's Office announced no prosecution and no information was ever filed. There was no plea, no probation, no intervention program, and no domestic violence adjudication — the felony was stopped before it became a case. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes; each case depends on its facts and circumstances.