Defending Against “Continuous Violence Against the Family” Charges in Texas
If you’ve been charged with Continuous Violence Against the Family in a Bexar County Assault & Domestic Violence case, there’s a fact about this charge that catches most defendants off guard and why they should retain a San Antonio criminal defense attorney: you do not need a prior conviction, and neither underlying incident needs to have ever been individually prosecuted, for the state to pursue this as a third-degree felony. Understanding exactly how this charge works — and where its real vulnerabilities are — is the first step in defending against it.
What Continuous Violence Against the Family Actually Requires
Under Texas Penal Code Section 25.11, a person commits this offense if, during a period of 12 months or less, they engage in conduct that constitutes assault causing bodily injury under Section 22.01(a)(1) two or more times against a family member, household member, or dating partner as defined by the Texas Family Code. That’s the entire core of the statute: two qualifying incidents, within a 12-month window, against a protected person.
What the statute does not require is just as important as what it does. It does not require a prior conviction for either incident. It does not require that either incident was ever separately charged, prosecuted, or even reported to police at the time it happened. It does not require serious bodily injury — ordinary “bodily injury,” meaning physical pain, illness, or any impairment of physical condition, is enough for each predicate incident. This means a person who has never been arrested for anything in their life can face a third-degree felony charge built entirely on two incidents that were never individually pursued, sometimes based on testimony, medical records, photographs, or text messages introduced for the first time at this later stage.
Why This Charge Carries Such Serious Penalties
A third-degree felony conviction under Section 25.11 carries a punishment range of 2 to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000 — a significant escalation from the Class A misdemeanor (up to one year in county jail, up to a $4,000 fine) that a single assault family violence incident would typically carry on its own. The elevation isn’t based on the severity of any one incident; it’s based entirely on the pattern the state alleges across two.
Where the Real Defense Opportunities Are
Because this charge depends on proving a pattern across two separate incidents, rather than the severity of a single event, the defense strategy looks different from a standard assault family violence case.
Challenging Whether Two Qualifying Incidents Actually Occurred
The state has to prove, to the jury’s unanimous satisfaction, that two or more incidents actually happened within the 12-month window — though the jury does not have to agree unanimously on which specific incidents those were, or the exact dates. That still leaves real room to challenge each alleged incident individually: was there actually bodily injury as the law defines it, is the timeline the state alleges even consistent with a 12-month window, and does the evidence for each incident actually hold up on its own.
Self-Defense Can Eliminate a Predicate Incident Entirely
If one of the two alleged incidents was a legitimate exercise of self-defense, it does not constitute an “offense” under Section 22.01(a)(1) in the first place — which means it cannot count toward the two-incident threshold this charge requires. Successfully establishing self-defense for even one of the two alleged incidents can defeat the felony enhancement entirely, even if the other incident is not seriously disputed. Our companion guide on pleading self-defense in a Texas domestic violence case covers this strategy in depth.
The Protection Against Duplicative Charging
Texas Penal Code Section 25.11(d) provides that a defendant cannot be charged with more than one count under this statute if all the alleged conduct is against a single victim or members of the same household within the relevant period. This isn’t just a theoretical protection — in Ellison v. State, 425 S.W.3d 637 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2014), a Texas appellate court vacated one of two duplicate continuous-violence convictions on double jeopardy grounds, holding that the same set of incidents against the same victim cannot support more than one Section 25.11 conviction. If you’re facing multiple counts under this statute, whether they’re properly separate charges — or an improper duplication of the same underlying conduct — is a real question worth your attorney examining closely.
These Charges Often Surface During Divorce or Custody Disputes
It’s worth being direct about something that comes up often in these cases: Continuous Violence Against the Family charges are sometimes filed in the context of a contentious separation, divorce, or custody dispute, where an accuser’s account of multiple prior incidents — often without contemporaneous documentation from the time they allegedly occurred — becomes relevant for the first time well after the fact. That context doesn’t automatically mean an allegation is false, but it is exactly the kind of circumstance that deserves careful, thorough scrutiny rather than an assumption that a serious-sounding accusation is automatically well-supported.
What This Means for Your Bexar County Case
A Continuous Violence Against the Family charge is not a case to face without a close, incident-by-incident review of exactly what the state can actually prove. Given that this charge can be built on incidents that were never separately prosecuted — sometimes years-old allegations introduced for the first time in this proceeding — an early, thorough investigation into the evidence behind each alleged incident is critical to understanding what you’re actually facing and what your realistic options are.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Do I need a prior domestic violence conviction to be charged with Continuous Violence Against the Family?
A: No. This is one of the most misunderstood aspects of this charge. Texas Penal Code Section 25.11 requires only two qualifying incidents within a 12-month period — neither incident needs to have resulted in a prior conviction, or even been separately charged or reported at the time.
Q: Can I be charged with this if the incidents were never reported to police?
A: Yes. The state can attempt to prove both incidents at trial using other evidence — testimony, medical records, photographs, or electronic communications — even if neither incident was reported or prosecuted when it allegedly happened.
Q: Does self-defense help in a Continuous Violence Against the Family case?
A: It can be significant. If one of the two alleged incidents was legitimate self-defense, it does not qualify as an “offense” under the statute this charge depends on, which means it cannot count toward the two-incident requirement — potentially defeating the felony charge entirely.
Q: Can I be charged with more than one count of Continuous Violence Against the Family for the same set of incidents?
A: No. Texas law specifically prohibits charging more than one count under this statute when all the alleged conduct involves a single victim or household within the relevant period, and Texas courts have enforced this protection on double jeopardy grounds.
Q: What’s the punishment range if convicted?
A: Continuous Violence Against the Family is a third-degree felony, carrying 2 to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
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Barton & Associates, Attorneys at Law
115 Camaron St, San Antonio, TX 78205
Office: 210-500-0000
Division: Criminal Defense San Antonio
Practice Area: Misdemeanors
Focus Area: Assault & Domestic Violence
