State of Missouri v. Greg Hallgrimson

Liberty, Missouri, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with irst-degree domestic assault in violation of section 565.072.



Hallgrimson and S.H. ("Victim") married in 2010 and divorced in 2017. By 2020, they had reunited and started living together again.



On June 13, 2020, the couple had an argument about why Victim did not want to remarry Hallgrimson. Victim recorded the disagreement on her phone, which she regularly did because Hallgrimson often did not recall the details of their arguments later.



Hallgrimson badgered Victim about why she did not want to remarry him for over twenty minutes. Victim explained that she did not want to remarry him because he had cheated on her during their prior marriage. Victim left the house twice during the disagreement and sat quietly outside their house. Each time she returned inside, Hallgrimson restarted the argument despite Victim's attempts to not engage.



The dispute escalated, and Hallgrimson called Victim belittling names. The conversation turned to a sleep diary that Victim had started at Hallgrimson's request to track his sleep habits, which was a point of contention for the couple. Victim left the room to retrieve the diary, and Hallgrimson muttered under his breath that he should shoot and kill Victim. When Victim returned, Hallgrimson demanded to read the diary. Victim refused, and he accused her of cheating on him.



Angered by the accusation, Victim slapped Hallgrimson. In response, Hallgrimson punched Victim hard enough to knock her briefly unconscious. While she laid unresponsive, Hallgrimson yelled at her, "You want to play, b****? Don't f****** punch me. I'll defend my f****** self, dumb f****** c***." He demanded her to get up five times without response.



When Victim regained consciousness, she saw a pool of blood on the floor and heard Hallgrimson yelling at her to get up. As the pain set in, she began hyperventilating and sobbing. Hallgrimson told her not to act like that. Once he realized the seriousness of Victim's injuries, he repeatedly said that he was going to shoot himself, proclaimed that he did the "worst thing in the world," and expressed concern about going to prison.



While continuing to threaten to kill himself, Hallgrimson eventually helped Victim up to the sink. Victim could barely hold herself up as she bled into the sink. From the pain, she lost control of her bladder and vomited repeatedly. Meanwhile, Hallgrimson told Victim to call his children to tell them that he loved them and that they were not at fault for his suicide. He asked Victim not to tell anyone about what had happened. He also asked her to tell him if she decided to call the police so that he could kill himself in advance.

The jury found him guilty of first-degree domestic assault. Hallgrimson waived sentencing by the jury, and the trial court sentenced him to eighteen years' incarceration in the Missouri Department of Corrections.



Affirmed