GLASTONBURY, CONNECTICUT · FAMILY LAW + FAMILY-VIOLENCE DEFENSE
Connecticut treats strangulation as a distinct offence rather than as a type of assault, and the exposure is more serious than most people arrested for it expect.
National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233
CT Safe Connect: (888) 774-2900 — 24/7, by call, text, chat, or email
| Charge | Statute | Classification |
|---|---|---|
| Strangulation or suffocation, 1st degree | C.G.S. §53a-64aa | Class C felony |
| Strangulation or suffocation, 2nd degree | C.G.S. §53a-64bb | Class D felony |
| Strangulation or suffocation, 3rd degree | C.G.S. §53a-64cc | Class A misdemeanor |
Every degree carries felony exposure except the third, and the third is still a class A misdemeanor — the most serious misdemeanor classification Connecticut has.
The offence concerns restricting a person’s ability to breathe or the blood circulation to their head, by applying pressure to the throat or neck or by blocking the nose or mouth. Marks frequently do not appear, and their absence does not defeat the charge.
It does not require an intent to injure.
Duration is not an element in the way people assume.
These features mean the charge is brought in situations the defendant genuinely did not understand to be strangulation — a hand on a neck during a struggle, pressure applied while separating from someone.
The Family Violence Education Program excludes certain felony charges outright and requires good cause for others, so a strangulation charge complicates a path that would otherwise be available.
Firearms, custody, employment, and for non-citizens, immigration.
The medical evidence, or its absence, and what it actually shows. The mechanics of what happened, which frequently differ from the single sentence in a police report. The sequence of events, including who initiated physical contact. The complaining person’s account and how it has developed. And whether the elements of the degree charged are genuinely met, as opposed to a more serious degree having been charged than the facts support.
Connecticut’s pretrial diversionary program for family violence cases. Who is eligible, what it requires, and how dismissal actually works.
Read more
The 24-hour surrender rule, what a family violence conviction means for firearm rights under state and federal law, and the consequences that outlast the case.
Read more
The charges Connecticut brings after a domestic incident, what each one is, and how they are classified. Assault, threatening, disorderly conduct, and more.
Read more
What a Connecticut criminal protective order restricts, how it differs from a standing criminal protective order, and how to contest one.
Read more
Connecticut charges order violations under four separate statutes, with felony exposure. Why most violations are unintentional.
Read more
Arrested for a family violence offense in Connecticut? What happens at arraignment, what a protective order does, and how the Family Violence Education Program works.
Read more
Every case starts with a conversation about what you’re facing and what it would take to handle it.
