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Strangulation or suffocation is a class H felony punishable by up to 6 years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000 or both.
Glenn Gaskill
OWI & Criminal Defense Attorney
Strangulation Attorneys Racine office (near the Village Center Strip Mall)
Strangulation or Suffocation in Racine & Kenosha
To be convicted of strangulation or suffocation in Racine or Kenosha, the prosecutor must prove that you intentionally made it harder to breathe or reduced the blood flow by putting pressure on the neck or throat or by covering the nose or mouth of someone. Neither death nor loss of consciousness is required to prove a strangulation or suffocation charge. The prosecutor simply must show that you made it more difficult for the victim to breathe.
In a strangulation or suffocation case, the prosecutor will often be forced to rely on circumstantial evidence to prove that someone experienced difficulty breathing. The police will take pictures of the neck and head area to show red marks, bruising or finger/handprints. The prosecutor will then try to use these pictures to prove that the victim had difficulty breathing.
Prosecutors Must Prove Intent
Additionally, the prosecutor must prove that you intended to make the victim’s breathing more difficult. It is not enough if during an altercation your hand accidentally makes contact with the person’s throat and makes it harder to breathe. The prosecutor must prove that the intention of your actions at that time was to make it harder to breathe. There are scenarios where during an altercation a person is on top of you and you push them off, if your hand or forearm ends up impeding their breathing it is not enough unless that was your intention. Similarly, if you restrain someone and it becomes harder for them to breathe that may not be enough to prove the case against you.
A strangulation charge is often between people who are in a relationship, have lived together or are living together, which allows for a domestic violence modifier on the charge. Your prison time and fines can be increased if you are charged with a strangulation offense with a domestic violence modifier.
Contact the experienced team of criminal defense attorneys at Grieve Law Kenosha for a free case consultation to learn how we can get your felony strangulation charges reduced or dropped.
How long does strangulation stay on my record?
There is no removing a strangulation or suffocation charge in Racine or Kenosha from your record, it will be there for the rest of your life. In some cases, you may be eligible for expunction but that does not remove the conviction it only seals it from CCAP (Wisconsin’s Circuit Court Access Program). Any time you are convicted of a crime in Wisconsin, your charge and conviction will be visible on CCAP. Even after a conviction is expunged, a background check still shows a conviction for strangulation or suffocation and the arrest record is never removed. The only way to ensure that you do not have a conviction for strangulation suffocation is to hire the right lawyer and successfully fight against the case.
How to beat a strangulation charge
Because a prosecutor must prove that you made it more difficult for someone to breathe, strangulation or suffocation cases often rely on the testimony of the victim or someone else that was present. Typically, the police will not witness the strangulation or suffocation itself and will not be able to testify as to what happened during the altercation. A victim who changes their story or who embellishes what happens can allow the right lawyer to fight against your case by challenging the credibility of the victim or witnesses statement.
If a victim comes clean and tells the police or the prosecutor that they embellished what happened, it will not change that you will still have to fight against the case. Typically, a prosecutor will not change their mind about pursuing the case simply because the victim says they overexaggerated. Photos, past testimony, witness statements and arguing that you have influenced the victim’s new statement are all tactics the prosecutor will use to attempt to prove their case.
A strangulation or suffocation case is one of the charges that allow for an affirmative defense of self-defense. Self-defense gives you the ability to exert “reasonable force” to stop a threat if you “reasonably” believe force is needed to stop the threat. Get in touch with one of our award-winning Racine and Kenosha lawyers today so that we can start to fight for you against your charges.
