2019 Code of Alabama
Title 13A - Criminal Code.
Chapter 6 - Offenses Involving Danger to the Person.
Article 7 - Domestic Violence in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Degrees.
Section 13A-6-138 - Domestic violence by strangulation or suffocation.
(a) For the purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:
(1) STRANGULATION. Intentionally causing asphyxia by closure or compression of the blood vessels or air passages of the neck as a result of external pressure on the neck.
(2) SUFFOCATION. Intentionally causing asphyxia by depriving a person of air or by preventing a person from breathing through the inhalation of toxic gases or by blocking or obstructing the airway of a person, by any means other than by strangulation.
(b) A person commits the crime of domestic violence by strangulation or suffocation if he or she commits an assault with intent to cause physical harm or commits the crime of menacing pursuant to Section 13A-6-23, by strangulation or suffocation or attempted strangulation or suffocation against a victim, as the term is defined in Section 13A-6-139.1.
(c) Domestic violence by strangulation or suffocation is a Class B felony punishable as provided by law.
(Act 2011-581, p. 1273, §3; Act 2015-493, §2.)
