What are the penalties for domestic assault in Minnesota?

What are the penalties for domestic assault in Minnesota? Under Minn. Stat. § 609.2242, domestic assault is a misdemeanor unless the person has earlier qualifying offenses. A repeat offense within ten years becomes a gross misdemeanor, and an offense after two or more earlier qualifying convictions or adjudications of delinquency is a felony. A conviction can also bring firearm restrictions, and assaults that cause greater harm or involve a weapon fall under higher degrees of assault with longer maximum sentences.

What counts as domestic assault

Domestic assault is an assault committed against a family or household member, as defined in section 518B.01, subdivision 2 (Minn. Stat. § 609.2242). The statute describes two kinds of conduct:

• An act done with intent to cause fear in another person of immediate bodily harm or death.

• The intentional infliction of bodily harm, or an attempt to inflict it.

Because the first kind turns on intent to cause fear, and the second includes attempts, the offense does not require that anyone actually be hurt (Minn. Stat. § 609.2242).

"Bodily harm" means physical pain or injury, illness, or any impairment of physical condition (Minn. Stat. § 609.02). "Intentionally" means that the person either has a purpose to do the thing or cause the result, or believes that the act, if successful, will cause that result (Minn. Stat. § 609.02).

The base penalty: a misdemeanor

A domestic assault with no qualifying earlier offenses is a misdemeanor (Minn. Stat. § 609.2242). A misdemeanor is a crime for which a sentence of not more than 90 days, or a fine of not more than $1,000, or both, may be imposed (Minn. Stat. § 609.02).

The general sentencing statute sets the same limits for a misdemeanor when no other punishment is fixed by law (Minn. Stat. § 609.03).

These figures are upper limits, not fixed sentences, because the definition speaks of what may be imposed (Minn. Stat. § 609.02).

How earlier offenses raise the penalty

The penalty climbs when a person has earlier qualifying domestic violence-related offenses.

Gross misdemeanor

A domestic assault committed within ten years of a previous qualified domestic violence-related offense conviction, or an adjudication of delinquency, is a gross misdemeanor. It may be punished by up to 364 days of imprisonment, a fine of up to $3,000, or both (Minn. Stat. § 609.2242). A gross misdemeanor is any crime that is not a felony or a misdemeanor (Minn. Stat. § 609.02).

Felony

A domestic assault committed within ten years of the first of any combination of two or more previous qualified domestic violence-related offense convictions or adjudications of delinquency is a felony. It may be punished by up to five years of imprisonment, a fine of up to $10,000, or both (Minn. Stat. § 609.2242).

What counts as an earlier offense

The list of qualified domestic violence-related offenses is wide. It includes domestic assault itself, assault in the first through fifth degrees, domestic assault by strangulation, violation of a domestic abuse order for protection, harassment or stalking, and similar laws of other states and jurisdictions (Minn. Stat. § 609.02).

A conviction means a guilty plea, a jury verdict of guilty, or a finding of guilty by the court, accepted and recorded by the court (Minn. Stat. § 609.02).

Fifth-degree assault

Fifth-degree assault has its own repeat-offense rules. A violation against the same victim within ten years of a previous qualifying offense is a gross misdemeanor, and so is a violation within three years of a previous qualifying offense (Minn. Stat. § 609.224). The felony rules work the same way after two or more earlier qualifying offenses, and the domestic assault felony provision also reaches a violation of fifth-degree assault when its conditions are met (Minn. Stat. § 609.2242).

Firearm consequences after a conviction

Beyond imprisonment and fines, a conviction carries firearm rules. When a person is convicted of domestic assault or of assault in the first through fifth degrees, the court must make written findings on the record. Those findings cover whether the victim was a family or household member, whether the defendant owns or possesses a firearm, and whether a firearm was used in any way during the assault (Minn. Stat. § 609.2242).

Several consequences can follow from those findings:

• If a firearm was used in the assault, the court must order that firearm and all other firearms the person possesses to be summarily forfeited (Minn. Stat. § 609.2242).

• If a firearm was used, the court may also prohibit the person from possessing any firearm for longer than three years, or for life, and violating that order is a gross misdemeanor (Minn. Stat. § 609.2242).

• Otherwise, a person convicted of domestic assault or fifth-degree assault against a family or household member is not entitled to possess firearms for three years from conviction, and possessing one in violation of that rule is a gross misdemeanor (Minn. Stat. § 609.2242).

• The court must generally order the person to transfer any firearms and to surrender permits to carry and purchase firearms (Minn. Stat. § 609.2242).

• If the court finds by a preponderance of the evidence that the person poses an imminent risk of causing another person substantial bodily harm, it must order local law enforcement to take immediate possession of all the person's firearms (Minn. Stat. § 609.2242).

The court must also tell the defendant how long the firearm prohibition lasts. A failure to give that information does not change the prohibition or the gross misdemeanor penalty (Minn. Stat. § 609.2242).

More serious assault charges involving family members

When an assault against a family or household member causes greater harm or involves a weapon, it can fall under the higher degrees of assault. The firearm findings in the domestic assault statute apply to convictions under those sections as well (Minn. Stat. § 609.2242).

The maximum sentences are:

• First degree (assault that inflicts great bodily harm): up to 20 years of imprisonment, a fine of up to $30,000, or both (Minn. Stat. § 609.221).

• Second degree (assault with a dangerous weapon): up to seven years, a fine of up to $14,000, or both. If substantial bodily harm is inflicted, the limits rise to ten years and $20,000 (Minn. Stat. § 609.222).

• Third degree (assault that inflicts substantial bodily harm): up to five years, a fine of up to $10,000, or both (Minn. Stat. § 609.223).

"Great bodily harm" means bodily injury that creates a high probability of death, causes serious permanent disfigurement, or causes a permanent or protracted loss or impairment of the function of a bodily member or organ. "Substantial bodily harm" includes a temporary but substantial disfigurement, a temporary but substantial loss or impairment of function, or a fracture (Minn. Stat. § 609.02). A "dangerous weapon" includes any firearm, loaded or unloaded, and other devices designed as weapons or used in a way likely to produce death or great bodily harm (Minn. Stat. § 609.02).

All of these figures are statutory maximums rather than set sentences, and the charge, the facts, and any earlier qualifying offenses determine which of them applies.