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S1061................................................by JUDICIARY AND RULES
DOMESTIC BATTERY - Amends existing law to revise the intent required to
commit a domestic battery.
01/27 Senate intro - 1st rdg - to printing
01/28 Rpt prt - to Jud
02/14 Rpt out - rec d/p - to 2nd rdg
02/15 2nd rdg - to 3rd rdg
02/18 3rd rdg - PASSED - 33-0-2
AYES -- Andreason, Broadsword, Bunderson, Burkett, Burtenshaw,
Cameron, Coiner, Compton, Corder, Darrington, Davis, Gannon, Geddes,
Goedde, Hill, Jorgenson, Kelly, Keough, Langhorst, Little, Lodge,
Malepeai, Marley, McGee, McKenzie, Noble, Pearce, Richardson,
Schroeder, Stegner, Stennett, Werk, Williams
NAYS -- None
Absent and excused -- Brandt, Sweet
Floor Sponsor - Lodge
Title apvd - to House
02/21 House intro - 1st rdg - to Jud
03/16 Rpt out - rec d/p - to 2nd rdg
03/17 2nd rdg - to 3rd rdg
03/18 3rd rdg - PASSED - 67-0-3
AYES -- Anderson, Andrus, Barraclough, Barrett, Bastian, Bayer,
Bedke, Bell, Bilbao, Black, Block, Boe, Bolz, Bradford, Cannon,
Chadderdon, Clark, Collins, Crow, Deal, Denney, Edmunson, Ellsworth,
Eskridge, Field(18), Field(23), Garrett, Hart, Harwood, Henbest,
Henderson, Jaquet, Kemp, Lake, LeFavour, Loertscher, Martinez,
Mathews, McGeachin, McKague, Miller, Mitchell, Moyle, Nielsen,
Nonini, Pasley-Stuart, Pence, Raybould, Ring, Ringo, Rusche, Rydalch,
Sali, Sayler, Schaefer, Shepherd(2), Shepherd(8), Shirley, Skippen,
Smith(30), Smith(24), Smylie, Snodgrass, Stevenson, Trail, Wills,
Wood
NAYS -- None
Absent and excused -- Jones, Roberts, Mr. Speaker
Floor Sponsor - Bastian
Title apvd - to Senate
03/21 To enrol
03/22 Rpt enrol - Pres signed
03/23 Sp signed
03/24 To Governor
03/28 Governor signed
Session Law Chapter 158
Effective: 07/01/05
]]]] LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF IDAHO ]]]]
Fifty-eighth Legislature First Regular Session - 2005
IN THE SENATE
SENATE BILL NO. 1061
BY JUDICIARY AND RULES COMMITTEE
1 AN ACT
2 RELATING TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE; AMENDING SECTION 18-918, IDAHO CODE, TO MAKE A
3 GRAMMATICAL CHANGE, TO REVISE THE INTENT REQUIRED TO COMMIT A DOMESTIC
4 BATTERY AND TO MAKE TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS.
5 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Idaho:
6 SECTION 1. That Section 18-918, Idaho Code, be, and the same is hereby
7 amended to read as follows:
8 18-918. DOMESTIC VIOLENCE. (1) For the purpose of this section:
9 (a) "Household member" means a person who is a spouse, former spouse, or
10 a person who has a child in common regardless of whether they have been
11 married or a person with whom a person is cohabiting, whether or not they
12 have married or have held themselves out to be husband or wife.
13 (b) "Traumatic injury" means a condition of the body, such as a wound or
14 external or internal injury, whether of a minor or serious nature, caused
15 by physical force.
16 (2) (a) Any household member who commits in committing a battery, as
17 defined in section 18-903, Idaho Code, and willfully and unlawfully
18 inflicts a traumatic injury upon any other household member is guilty of a
19 felony.
20 (b) A conviction of felony domestic battery is punishable by imprisonment
21 in the state prison for a term not to exceed ten (10) years or by a fine
22 not to exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000) or by both fine and imprison-
23 ment.
24 (3) (a) A household member who commits an assault, as defined in section
25 18-901, Idaho Code, against another household member which does not result
26 in traumatic injury is guilty of a misdemeanor domestic assault.
27 (b) A household member who commits a battery, as defined in section
28 18-903, Idaho Code, against another household member which does not result
29 in traumatic injury is guilty of a misdemeanor domestic battery.
30 (c) A first conviction under this subsection (3) is punishable by a fine
31 not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000) or by imprisonment in a county
32 jail not to exceed six (6) months, or both. Any person who pleads guilty
33 to or is found guilty of a violation of this subsection (3) who previously
34 has pled guilty to or been found guilty of a violation of this subsection
35 (3), or of any substantially conforming foreign criminal violation, not-
36 withstanding the form of the judgment or withheld judgment, within ten
37 (10) years of the first conviction, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and
38 shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail for a term not to
39 exceed one (1) year or by a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars
40 ($2,000) or by both fine and imprisonment. Any person who pleads guilty to
41 or is found guilty of a violation of this subsection (3) who previously
42 has pled guilty to or been found guilty of two (2) violations of this sub-
43 section (3), or of any substantially conforming foreign criminal violation
2
1 or any combination thereof, notwithstanding the form of the judgment or
2 withheld judgment, within fifteen (15) years of the first conviction,
3 shall be guilty of a felony and shall be punished by imprisonment in the
4 state prison for a term not to exceed five (5) years or by a fine not to
5 exceed five thousand dollars ($5,000) or by both fine and imprisonment.
6 (4) The maximum penalties provided in this section shall be doubled where
7 the act of domestic assault or battery for which the person is convicted or
8 pleads guilty took place in the presence of a child. For purposes of this sec-
9 tion, "in the presence of a child" means in the physical presence of a child
10 or knowing that a child is present and may see or hear an act of domestic
11 assault or battery. For purposes of this section, "child" means a person under
12 sixteen (16) years of age.
13 (5) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section, any person who
14 previously has pled guilty to or been found guilty of a felony violation of
15 the provisions of this section or of any substantially conforming foreign
16 criminal felony violation, notwithstanding the form of the judgment or with-
17 held judgment, and who within fifteen (15) years pleads guilty to or is found
18 guilty of any further violation of this section, shall be guilty of a felony
19 and shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for a term not to
20 exceed ten (10) years or by a fine not to exceed ten thousand dollars
21 ($10,000), or by both such fine and imprisonment.
22 (6) For the purposes of this section, a substantially conforming foreign
23 criminal violation exists when a person has pled guilty to or been found
24 guilty of a violation of any federal law or law of another state, or any valid
25 county, city or town ordinance of another state, substantially conforming with
26 the provisions of this section. The determination of whether a foreign crimi-
27 nal violation is substantially conforming is a question of law to be deter-
28 mined by the court.
29 (7) (a) Any person who pleads guilty to or is found guilty of a violation
30 of this section shall undergo, at the person's own expense, an evaluation
31 by a person, agency or organization approved by the court in accordance
32 with subsection paragraph (c) of this subsection to determine whether the
33 defendant should be required to obtain aggression counseling or other
34 appropriate treatment. Such evaluation shall be completed prior to the
35 sentencing date if the court's list of approved evaluators, in accordance
36 with subsection paragraph (c) of this subsection, contains evaluators who
37 are able to perform the evaluation prior to the sentencing dates. If the
38 evaluation recommends counseling or other treatment, the evaluation shall
39 recommend the type of counseling or treatment considered appropriate for
40 the defendant, together with the estimated costs thereof, and shall recom-
41 mend any other suitable alternative counseling or treatment programs,
42 together with the estimated costs thereof. The defendant shall request
43 that a copy of the completed evaluation be forwarded to the court. The
44 court shall take the evaluation into consideration in determining an
45 appropriate sentence. If a copy of the completed evaluation has not been
46 provided to the court, the court may proceed to sentence the defendant;
47 however, in such event, it shall be presumed that counseling is required
48 unless the defendant makes a showing by a preponderance of evidence that
49 counseling is not required. If the defendant has not made a good faith
50 effort to provide the completed copy of the evaluation to the court, the
51 court may consider the failure of the defendant to provide the report as
52 an aggravating circumstance in determining an appropriate sentence. If
53 counseling or other treatment is ordered, in no event shall the person,
54 agency or organization doing the evaluation be the person, agency or orga-
55 nization that provides the counseling or other treatment unless this
3
1 requirement is waived by the sentencing court, with the exception of fed-
2 erally recognized Indian tribes or federal military installations, where
3 diagnosis and treatment are appropriate and available. Nothing herein con-
4 tained shall preclude the use of funds authorized for court-ordered coun-
5 seling or treatment pursuant to this section for indigent defendants as
6 provided by law. In the event that funding is provided for or on behalf
7 of the defendant by a governmental entity, the defendant shall be ordered
8 to make restitution to such governmental entity in accordance with the
9 restitution procedure for crime victims, as specified under chapter 53,
10 title 19, Idaho Code.
11 (b) If the evaluation recommends counseling or other treatment, the court
12 shall order the person to complete the counseling or other treatment in
13 addition to any other sentence which may be imposed. If the court deter-
14 mines that counseling or treatment would be inappropriate or undesirable,
15 the court shall enter findings articulating the reasons for such determi-
16 nation on the record. The court shall order the defendant to complete the
17 preferred counseling or treatment program set forth in the evaluation, or
18 a comparable alternative, unless it appears that the defendant cannot rea-
19 sonably obtain adequate financial resources for such counseling or treat-
20 ment. In that event, the court may order the defendant to complete a less
21 costly alternative set forth in the evaluation or a comparable program.
22 Nothing contained in this subsection shall be construed as requiring a
23 court to order that counseling or treatment be provided at government
24 expense unless otherwise required by law.
25 (c) Each judicial district shall by rule establish a uniform system for
26 the qualification and approval of persons, agencies or organizations to
27 perform the evaluations required in this subsection. Only qualified
28 evaluators approved by the court shall be authorized to perform such eval-
29 uations. Funds to establish a system for approval of evaluators shall be
30 derived from moneys designated therefor and deposited in the district
31 court fund as provided in section 31-3201A(q), Idaho Code.
32 (d) Counseling or treatment ordered pursuant to this section shall be
33 conducted according to standards established or approved by the Idaho
34 council on domestic violence.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
RS 14550
This proposed legislation will amend Section 18-918 to clarify
that the felony domestic battery statute has the same intent
requirement as the battery statute (I.C. 18-903) and the
aggravated battery statute (I.C. 18-907).
These amendments are brought in reaction to the Idaho Court of
Appeal's decisions in State v. Sohm, 140 Idaho 458, 95 P. 3d 76
(Mar. 4, 2004), and State v Hansell, 2004 WL 2822777 (Dec. 4,
2004), which require the state to prove two different levels of
intent for felony domestic battery. The caselaw requires the
state to prove not only that the defendant willfully and
unlawfully battered a household member, but also that the
defendant willfully and unlawfully inflicted a traumatic injury.
This "double" intent requirement was never intended by the
Legislature.
The amendment to Section 18-918 is intended to clarify that a
battery against a household member does not require an additional
intent, above and beyond that required for a battery against a
non-household-member.
FISCAL NOTE
The fiscal impact is neutral. This amendment simply clarifies
the statute as the Legislature intended it to be interpreted in
the first place.
CONTACT
Name: William A. von Tagen
Office of The Attorney General
Phone: 334-4140
Name: Stephen Bywater
Office of the Attorney General
Phone: 332-3543
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE/FISCAL NOTE S 1061