| Violation of Protective Order | Assaultive Offenses | Harassment | Family Code : Definitions |
PENAL CODE
TITLE 6. OFFENSES AGAINST THE FAMILY
CHAPTER 25. OFFENSES AGAINST THE FAMILY
Sec. 25.07. Violation of Protective Order or Magistrate's Order.
(a) A person commits an offense if, in violation of an order
issued under Section 6.504 or Chapter 85, Family Code, under
Article 17.292, Code of Criminal Procedure, or by another
jurisdiction as provided by Chapter 88, Family Code, the person
knowingly or intentionally:
(1) commits family violence or an act in furtherance of an
offense under Section 42.072;
(2) communicates:
(A) directly with a protected individual or a member of
the family or household in a threatening or harassing
manner;
(B) a threat through any person to a protected
individual or a member of the family or household; and
(C) in any manner with the protected individual or a
member of the family or household except through the
person's attorney or a person appointed by the court, if the
order prohibits any communication with a protected
individual or a member of the family or household; or
(3) goes to or near any of the following places as
specifically described in the order:
(A) the residence or place of employment or business of
a protected individual or a member of the family or
household; or
(B) any child care facility, residence, or school where
a child protected by the order normally resides or attends.
(b) For the purposes of this section, "family violence,"
"family," "household," and "member of a household" have the
meanings assigned by Section 71.01, Family Code.
(c) If conduct constituting an offense under this section also
constitutes an offense under another section of this code, the
actor may be prosecuted under either section or under both
sections.
(d) Reconciliatory actions or agreements made by persons
affected by an order do not affect the validity of the order or
the duty of a peace officer to enforce this section.
(e) A peace officer investigating conduct that may constitute
an offense under this section for a violation of an order may not
arrest a person protected by that order for a violation of that
order.
(f) It is not a defense to prosecution under this section that
certain information has been excluded, as provided by Section
71.111, Family Code, or Article 17.292, Code of Criminal
Procedure, from an order to which this section applies.
(g) An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor
unless it is shown on the trial of the offense that the defendant
has previously been convicted under this section two or more
times or has violated the protective order by committing an
assault or the offense of stalking, in which event the offense is
a third degree felony.
CHAPTER 22. ASSAULTIVE OFFENSES
Sec. 22.01. Assault.
(a) A person commits an offense if the person:
(1) intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly causes bodily
injury to another, including the person's spouse;
(2) intentionally or knowingly threatens another with
imminent bodily injury, including the person's spouse; or
(b) An offense under Subsection (a)(1) is a Class A
misdemeanor, except that the offense is:
(2) a state jail felony if it is shown on the trial of the
offense that the offense was committed against a family member
and that the defendant has been previously convicted of an
offense against a family member under this section two or more
times.
(c) An offense under Subsection (a)(2) or (3) is a Class C
misdemeanor, except that an offense under Subsection (a)(3) is a
Class A misdemeanor if the offense was committed against an
elderly individual or disabled individual, as those terms are
defined by Section 22.04.
(e) In this section, "family" has the meaning assigned by
Section 71.01, Family Code.
Sec. 22.011. Sexual Assault.
(a) A person commits an offense if the person:
(1) intentionally or knowingly:
(A) causes the penetration of the anus or female sexual
organ of another person by any means, without that person's
consent;
(B) causes the penetration of the mouth of another
person by the sexual organ of the actor, without that
person's consent; or
(C) causes the sexual organ of another person, without
that person's consent, to contact or penetrate the mouth,
anus, or sexual organ of another person, including the
actor; or
(2) intentionally or knowingly:
(A) causes the penetration of the anus or female sexual
organ of a child by any means;
(B) causes the penetration of the mouth of a child by
the sexual organ of the actor;
(C) causes the sexual organ of a child to contact or
penetrate the mouth, anus, or sexual organ of another
person, including the actor;
(D) causes the anus of a child to contact the mouth,
anus, or sexual organ of another person, including the
actor; or
(E) causes the mouth of a child to contact the anus or
sexual organ of another person, including the actor.
(b) A sexual assault under Subsection (a)(1) is without the
consent of the other person if:
(1) the actor compels the other person to submit or
participate by the use of physical force or violence;
(2) the actor compels the other person to submit or
participate by threatening to use force or violence against the
other person, and the other person believes that the actor has
the present ability to execute the threat;
(3) the other person has not consented and the actor knows
the other person is unconscious or physically unable to resist;
(4) the actor knows that as a result of mental disease or
defect the other person is at the time of the sexual assault
incapable either of appraising the nature of the act or of
resisting it;
(5) the other person has not consented and the actor knows
the other person is unaware that the sexual assault is
occurring;
(6) the actor has intentionally impaired the other person's
power to appraise or control the other person's conduct by
administering any substance without the other person's
knowledge;
(7) the actor compels the other person to submit or
participate by threatening to use force or violence against any
person, and the other person believes that the actor has the
ability to execute the threat;
(8) the actor is a public servant who coerces the other
person to submit or participate;
(9) the actor is a mental health services provider or a
health care services provider who causes the other person, who
is a patient or former patient of the actor, to submit or
participate by exploiting the other person's emotional
dependency on the actor; or
(10) the actor is a clergyman who causes the other person to
submit or participate by exploiting the other person's
emotional dependency on the clergyman in the clergyman's
professional character as spiritual adviser.
(c) In this section:
(1) "Child" means a person younger than 17 years of age who
is not the spouse of the actor.
(2) "Spouse" means a person who is legally married to
another.
Sec. 22.02. Aggravated Assault.
(a) A person commits an offense if the person commits assault
as defined in Section 22.01 and the person:
(1) causes serious bodily injury to another, including the
person's spouse; or
(2) uses or exhibits a deadly weapon during the commission
of the assault.
(b) An offense under this section is a felony of the second
degree, except that the offense is a felony of the first degree
if the offense is committed:
(3) in retaliation against or on account of the service of
another as a witness, prospective witness, informant, or person
who has reported the occurrence of a crime.
Sec. 22.021. Aggravated Sexual Assault.
(a) A person commits an offense:
(1) if the person:
(A) intentionally or knowingly:
(i) causes the penetration of the anus or
female sexual organ of another person by any means, without that
person's consent;
(ii) causes the penetration of the mouth of
another person by the sexual organ of the actor, without that
person's consent; or
(iii) causes the sexual organ of another
person, without that person's consent, to contact or penetrate
the mouth, anus, or sexual organ of another person, including the
actor; or
(B) intentionally or knowingly:
(i) causes the penetration of the anus or
female sexual organ of a child by any means;
(ii) causes the penetration of the mouth of a
child by the sexual organ of the actor;
(iii) causes the sexual organ of a child to
contact or penetrate the mouth, anus, or sexual organ of another
person, including the actor;
(iv) causes the anus of a child to contact
the mouth, anus, or sexual organ of another person, including the
actor; or
(v) causes the mouth of a child to contact
the anus or sexual organ of another person, including the actor;
and
(2) if:
(A) the person:
(i) causes serious bodily injury or attempts
to cause the death of the victim or another person in the course
of the same criminal episode;
(ii) by acts or words places the victim in
fear that death, serious bodily injury, or kidnapping will be
imminently inflicted on any person;
(iii) by acts or words occurring in the
presence of the victim threatens to cause the death, serious
bodily injury, or kidnapping of any person;
(iv) uses or exhibits a deadly weapon in the
course of the same criminal episode; or
(v) acts in concert with another who engages
in conduct described by Subdivision (1) directed toward the same
victim and occurring during the course of the same criminal
episode;
(B) the victim is younger than 14 years of age; or
(C) the victim is 65 years of age or older.
(b) In this section, "child" has the meaning assigned that term
by Section 22.011(c).
(c) An aggravated sexual assault under this section is without
the consent of the other person if the aggravated sexual assault
occurs under the same circumstances listed in Section 22.011(b).
(d) The defense provided by Section 22.011(d) applies to this
section.
(e) An offense under this section is a felony of the first
degree.
Sec. 22.04. Injury to a Child, Elderly Individual, or Disabled Individual.
(a) A person commits an offense if he intentionally, knowingly,
recklessly, or with criminal negligence, by act or intentionally,
knowingly, or recklessly by omission, causes to a child, elderly
individual, or disabled individual:
(1) serious bodily injury;
(2) serious mental deficiency, impairment, or injury; or
(3) bodily injury.
HARASSMENT.
(a) A person commits an offense if, with intent to harass,
annoy, alarm, abuse, torment, or embarrass another, he:
(1) initiates communication by telephone or in writing and
in the course of the communication makes a comment, request,
suggestion, or proposal that is obscene;
(2) threatens, by telephone or in writing, in a manner
reasonably likely to alarm the person receiving the threat, to
inflict bodily injury on the person or to commit a felony
against the person, a member of his family, or his property;
(3) conveys, in a manner reasonably likely to alarm the
person receiving the report, a false report, which is known by
the conveyor to be false, that another person has suffered
death or serious bodily injury;
(4) causes the telephone of another to ring repeatedly or
makes repeated telephone communications anonymously or in a
manner reasonably likely to harass, annoy, alarm, abuse,
torment, embarrass, or offend another;
(5) makes a telephone call and intentionally fails to hang
up or disengage the connection; or
(6) knowingly permits a telephone under his control to be
used by a person to commit an offense under this section.
(b) For purposes of Subsection (a)(1), "obscene" means
containing a patently offensive description of or a solicitation
to commit an ultimate sex act, including sexual intercourse,
masturbation, cunnilingus, fellatio, or anilingus, or a
description of an excretory function. In this section, "family"
has the meaning assigned by Section 71.01, Family Code.
(c) An offense under this section is a Class B misdemeanor.
FAMILY CODE
TITLE 4. PROTECTIVE ORDERS AND FAMILY VIOLENCE
SUBTITLE A. GENERAL PROVISIONS
CHAPTER 71. DEFINITIONS
Sec. 71.003. Family.
"Family" includes individuals related by consanguinity or
affinity, as determined under Sections 573.022 and 573.024,
Government Code, individuals who are former spouses of each
other, individuals who are the biological parents of the same
child, without regard to marriage, and a foster child and foster
parent, without regard to whether those individuals reside
together.
Sec. 71.004. Family Violence.
"Family violence" means:
(1) an act by a member of a family or household against
another member of the family or household that is intended to
result in physical harm, bodily injury, assault, or sexual
assault or that is a threat that reasonably places the member
in fear of imminent physical harm, bodily injury, assault, or
sexual assault, but does not include defensive measures to
protect oneself; or
(2) abuse, as that term is defined by Sections
261.001(1)(C), (E), and (G) by a member of a family or
household toward a child of the family or household.
Sec. 71.005. Household.
"Household" means a unit composed of persons living together in
the same dwelling, without regard to whether they are related to
each other.
Sec. 71.006. Member of a Household.
"Member of a household" includes a person who previously lived
in a household.
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