Man claims neck marks are hickeys, not bruises

Accused of beating and choking his girlfriend, a man charged with domestic violence claimed Tuesday the marks on his girlfriend’s neck were not from an altercation but were instead hickeys.

“They were hickeys,” Silverio T. Hernandez told General Sessions Judge Larry Ross in his own defense Tuesday morning. “I only held her hands when she tried to hit me.”

Hernandez used the hickey defense while entering a guilty plea to domestic violence charges in which his girlfriend maintained he hit and choked her and pushed her against a wall.

“I came home late and she was mad at me when I came in,” Hernandez told the court. “I told the officer the marks were hickeys.”

Despite his defense, the court ordered him to serve 48 hours of an 11-month, 29-day sentence, pay $100 plus costs, forever forfeit his right to own a firearm, and to attend domestic violence counseling.

“And, if you decide to inflict any other unlawful hickeys in the future, you will be in violation of your probation,” Ross warned in pronouncing sentence.