BRENHAM MAN SENTENCED TO TEN YEARS AFTER PROBATION FOR FAMILY VIOLENCE REVOKED

  

A Brenham man was given a maximum ten-year prison sentence Monday, after a court revoked his probation for domestic violence.

32-year-old Dillon Keith Foerster pled guilty in December to Assault on a Family Member by Impeding Breath, stemming from an incident in July 2017, and received four years’ probation. Prosecutors said he violated his probation primarily by committing a new offense in February against the same victim.

Foerster was arrested and indicted for the February offense. He was also arrested in May for violation of an emergency protective order.

At the hearing, prosecutors presented evidence regarding the July 2017 incident, as well as numerous other assaults and physical and verbal abuse against the same victim.

Prosecutors said the abuse included threats to drown the victim, encouraging her to commit suicide, repeatedly assaulting her while she was pregnant, and attempting to catch her hair on fire while she held her newborn. Pictures of her injuries from both offenses were presented to the judge.

Assault – Family Violence is typically a Class A misdemeanor, but when the assault is committed by strangulation, impeding air or blood flow, it is elevated to a third degree felony, punishable by two to ten years in prison. Because Foerster was on deferred adjudication probation, that whole punishment range was available to the judge.

Motions to Revoke Probation hearings are held before the court, without a jury, and violations of probation must be proven by a preponderance of the evidence, not beyond a reasonable doubt.

Washington County District Attorney Julie Renken said she hopes this sentence will further encourage victims of family violence to “step out of the shadows” and allow prosecution of people who “abuse those closest to them”.