Failure to Seek Help Lands Abuser in Jail

A Van Nuys man convicted earlier of battering his wife was sentenced this week to a year in jail for failing to attend counseling programs, among other probation violations, the Los Angeles city attorney said.

In April, Juan Jose Orellana, 38, was sentenced to 30 days in jail and was ordered to enroll in Alcoholics Anonymous and domestic-violence counseling programs and to perform 45 days of community service on a Caltrans work crew, according to a written statement from the city attorney.

Los Angeles Municipal Judge Peter D. Lichtman imposed the one-year sentence Monday during a compliance hearing when Orellana failed to show that he completed either the counseling programs or his community service obligation. Orellana was immediately taken into custody to begin serving the sentence.

“This demonstrates that we will go after people who fail to enroll in domestic violence counseling programs,” said city attorney’s spokesman Mike Qualls. “We think this is very important. If they don’t comply, they’re going to get caught.”

Orellana was convicted after pleading no contest to one count each of spousal battery and child abuse after an incident Jan. 26 in which he struck his wife several times and injured her nose, the city attorney said.

Fearing that her husband was intoxicated, Orellana’s wife had refused to give him the keys to his car. The child abuse charge stemmed from the fact that the assault was witnessed by the couple’s 14-year-old son, who made the emergency call that summoned police, according to the city attorney.