7 Dec 2012
The ex-girlfriend of an Austin man has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and stalking. She is alleged to have committed a series of bizarre acts against her former boyfriend after their breakup in September of this year. The two had been dating on and off for about three years.
The litany of acts alleged in the case is substantial, and includes the following:
- Hundreds of phone calls per day;
- Over 125 text messages in a single day;
- 50 blank text messages in a day, followed by messages suggesting that the woman was at her ex-boyfriend’s home.
- Continued harassment even after the boyfriend changed his phone number and filed several police reports concerning the allegations.
While certainly annoying, the scenario might be seen by some as just an extreme instance of harassment, but for its culmination, which began when the suspect allegedly drove to the home of her ex-boyfriend’s mother, and ended when she backed her car into the woman, resulting in broken ribs, as well as a broken collarbone, wrist and ankle. The alleged victim remains in the hospital’s intensive care unit.
Stalking is defined under section 42.072 of the Texas Penal Code. It consists of multiple instances of knowingly engaging in conduct that will be reasonably regarded as (1) threatening bodily injury or death for another person or a member of that other person’s family or household (of with whom the other person has a dating relationship) or (2) threatening the other person’s property. Stalking is a third degree felony for a first offender.
As serious as the stalking charge may be, the aggravated assault charge in this case is a second degree felony. It consists of an assault which either causes serious bodily harm or which involves the exhibition or use of a deadly weapon. Under the facts presented in this case, the suspect allegedly caused serious bodily injury to her ex-boyfriend’s mother. In addition, a car can be a deadly weapon, the definition of which includes not only firearms and other things that are designed to inflict injury, but also “anything that in the manner of its use or intended use is capable of causing death or serious bodily injury.” So while an automobile is not in and of itself a deadly weapon, it can become one based upon the manner in which it is used.
However the case turns out, the suspect is facing substantial prison time if convicted. What she may have seen as a boyfriend/girlfriend spat, could, if she is convicted, result in a sentence of two to ten years on the stalking charge, and two to twenty years for aggravated assault.
Law Office of David D. White, PLLC
1205 Rio Grande Street
Austin, TX 78701
(512) 369-3737