People v. Cole CA2/8

BACKGROUND

A. Prior Incidents of Domestic Violence Between Appellant and Fae Appellant and his wife Fae A. were married for approximately eight years and had three children. Over that period of time, there were several instances of domestic violence between them. The first occurred about a month after they met, where Appellant slammed Fae into a bed, choked her, and punched her in the face. Fae stayed with Appellant after that because Appellant apologized to her. A few years later into their marriage, in 2014, another domestic violence incident took place after they had both consumed alcohol at a family birthday party. Fae testified that Appellant was calling her offensive names and then he struck her in the chest, causing her to fall. When Fae got up, she began hitting Appellant, and they then proceeded to hit each other. Fae ran outside, but the fighting continued. The fighting stopped when the neighbors came out. Appellant denies that he hit or pushed Fae that day. On New Year’s Day 2020, Appellant and Fae were at a bus stop and began arguing. Appellant called Fae a “bitch” and “whore” in front of their children. Appellant believed that Fae had been cheating on him with…