Villarreal v. State
In the defendant's trial for violation of a protective order, the
court correctly instructed the jury, over the defendant's objection, that
family violence meant dating violence and in defining the terms "dating
violence" and "dating relationship". The jury charge stated that a person commits the offense of
violating a protective order if he knowingly or intentionally commits
family violence and the person has violated the protective order by
committing an assault. While the Code's definitions of "dating
violence" and "dating relationship" affect the meaning of the family
violence element of the offense, the defendant's actions in striking
and pushing his girlfriend still qualified as assaultive element.
