My wife would hit me with a car, too!

In State v. Bolden, No. 93,806 (Kan. App. April 28, 2006), Brent Getty, an occassional appellate defender, successfully defended a state’s appeal from a downward dispositional departure. The district court relied on the fact that the victim/husband was seeing another woman to justify a downward departure on an aggravated battery charge involving Ms. Bolden ramming a car holding her husband and his girlfriend. The COA held a "reasonable person would expect a wife to be upset upon learning that her husband is being unfaithful. However, it is unreasonable to accept that by engaging in infidelity a person invites their spouse to assault and batter them." I wonder if these judges are married?

The district court also relied on the age of Ms. Bolden’s children and the impact of her going to prison on the children, on the fact that she had taken anger control classes, and that the probability of reformation was increased with probation. The COA held that these were sufficient grounds to support the departure and affirmed.

[Update: neither side filed a petition for review and the mandate issued on June 1, 2006].