Very early in my prosecutorial career, back when I was still doing misdemeanor D.V.'s I had a case declined by the felony prosecutors. The husband was a control freak. He recorded the mileage on her car, tracked the minutes she was out of the house, checked her panties in the wash and her panty drawer for evidence of infidelity, pretty typical stuff actually. If we had social media and cells he would have checked those things too.
One night he was convinced, yet again, that she had been unfaithful. He threw her down, pulled off her pants to check her panties. He did this violently enough to break a table he tossed her into and left a nice bruise on her hip. He did this in front of their three year old daughter. Mother and daughter fled to the master bedroom, locked the doo,r and said they would call the police. They in fact did. On the recording you can hear him threatening to stomp on the daughters pet turtle if they don't open the door. He did. The daughter was hysterical., Mom opened the door and he cold cocked mom with a piece of copper piping. (Who has copper pipe just laying around? - This guy, that's who.) When the Police got there he was cutting off moms long, gorgeous red hair with an electric shears meantfor trimming the dog. He was shouting now nobody would want the bald #####. He had managed to dig the corner of the shears into her skull leaving a gash that had to be closed by 28 stiches. The pipe had a bit of her hair and blood on it.
I never understood how the felony prosecutors could turn that down. For me it was an exciting trial, rarely did I get matters of such moment and with such compelling evidence and exhibits.
At trial he took the stand. No matter the questions on direct or cross he simply stated that he loved his wife and no one could say otherwise. I did persist on cross and did get him to threaten me, which is not good for a defendant trying to sell that he is calm and loving. On close I had a bit of fun with his statements. I talked about husbands expressing love for their spouses and they things they typically do, like send flowers and cards and such. I then said I had never heard of Hallmark stores or flower shops having plumbing supplies in stock as a way of expressing love. Sure, Hallmark encouraged men to say it with flowers, but never with plumbing supplies. He went to jail.
At any rate, a clear felony, a class 2 in my state, which was prosecuted as a misdemeanor. It happens.