DVO was entered against Husband who appealed arguing that there was insufficient evidence to support the entry DVO.
The Court of Appeals reviews the record noting intoxicated Husband screamed at wife, threatened to call CPS, called and hung up on 911, hit Wife across the arm, and later texted wife threatening to commit suicide. The Court holds that while the hit across the arm itself would not be enough to justify entry of a DVO, “the infliction of fear of imminent physical injury,” was established by a preponderance of the evidence; thus, an act of violence occurred.
Next, the Court of Appeals looks to see if Wife established that domestic violence may occur again. The Court of Appeals finds Wife demonstrated domestic violence may occur again given the escalation of the parties’ arguments, Husband’s alcohol use, and Husband’s suicide threat. As Wife demonstrated by a preponderance of the evidence that domestic violence occurred and may occur in the future the court did not abuse its discretion in entering the DVO.
Digested by Elizabeth M. Howell
