State v. Alires, 438 P.3d 984

Teresa Alires and her wife engaged in an escalating domestic dispute in 2015 in the presence of their 14-month-old child and a 15-year-old niece; the niece recorded the altercation.
During the fight Alires threatened to kill and choke her wife, threw objects, slapped and pushed her, lifted her by the throat, threw her onto a couch, and then placed both hands on the wife’s neck and applied pressure for ~30 seconds until the wife could barely breathe.
The wife suffered visible injuries (bump/bruise to head, scratch on chest, red neck marks) and throat pain for days; she called police after escaping.
Police interviewed both; Alires at times admitted to choking but claimed she acted in self-defense or merely restrained the wife.
The State charged Alires with one count of aggravated assault and two counts of domestic violence in the presence of a child; a jury convicted on all counts.
On appeal Alires argued (1) insufficiency of evidence that the force used was likely to cause death or serious bodily injury, (2) erroneous denial of a self-defense jury instruction, and (3) constitutional error; the court affirmed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of evidence that strangulation was "means or force likely to produce death or serious bodily injury" for aggravated assault and domestic-violence enhancements	State: Strangulation—even without death—constitutes force likely to cause serious bodily injury; evidence (threats, 30s strangulation, nurse testimony) supports conviction	Alires: 30 seconds of pressure was not shown to be likely to produce death or serious bodily injury	Affirmed: Strangulation is sufficient; testimony about duration/force and expert explanation of oxygen deprivation supported jury verdict
Denial of requested self-defense instruction	State: Even if instruction should have been given, any error was harmless because evidence of guilt was overwhelming	Alires: Trial court erred by refusing her self-defense instruction	Assuming error, harmless: defendant’s own trial testimony denied choking (contradicting a self-defense theory) and record contained overwhelming evidence of guilt, so no prejudice
Preservation of constitutional-error claim regarding refusal to instruct on self-defense	State: Issue not preserved; defendant must have presented constitutional argument at trial	Alires: Denial of instruction violated constitutional right to present a defense	Not preserved: Passing references and proposed instructions did not alert trial court to a constitutional claim, so appellate review declined

State v. Speer, 750 P.2d 186 (Utah 1988) (strangling until near-unconsciousness is force likely to cause death or serious bodily injury)
State v. Peterson, 681 P.2d 1210 (Utah 1984) (applying strangulation as an act dangerous to human life and supporting aggravated-assault element)
State v. Fisher, 680 P.2d 35 (Utah 1984) (strangulation constitutes serious bodily injury)
State v. Reece, 349 P.3d 712 (Utah 2015) (harmless-error standard for erroneous denial of affirmative-defense instructions)
State v. Berriel, 299 P.3d 1133 (Utah 2013) (standard of review and framework for refusing jury instructions)