One January night, a 40-year old man, who had been drinking, started a fight with his wife in their home. The wife said her husband called her names and attempted to get her to bed. When she refused, he hit and kicked her in the stomach and ripped off her blouse. The wife yelled for help but her husband turned up the volume of the television. The husband then ripped the phone out of the socket, breaking it, because the wife wanted to call the police. She continued to yell for help while the husband kicked her arms and hit her breast, nose and lips, causing her nose to swell and her lips to bleed. Eventually the building’s superintendent and the police arrived. As a result of the incident, the wife had bruises, had difficulty eating and breathing, and took Tylenol for her pain. Two orders of protection were issued by a criminal court.
A similar incident happed in April. That was when the wife filed a complaint against the husband charging him with the crimes of criminal contempt, harassment, assault, menacing, criminal mischief, and aggravation. The husband was indicted. He sought for its dismissal claiming that the evidence was not legally sufficient to establish the offenses as charged.