Rucker, J.
The question presented is whether the sister of a brother who was once married to the defendant’s aunt is a “family or household member” within the meaning of the statute elevating misdemeanor battery to a level 6 felony. We think not.
….
… Challenging the sufficiency of the evidence Suggs does not dispute he was at least eighteen years of age at the time of the offense, nor does he contest that the battery occurred in the physical presence of a child less than sixteen years of age or that he knew the child was present and might be able to see or hear the offense. Rather he complains the evidence is insufficient to demonstrate that Warren was a “family or household member” within the meaning of Indiana Code section 35-31.5-2-128.
….
We have no doubt the “Family or household Member” statute contemplates the inclusion of in-laws. See, e.g., City of Las Vegas v. Eighth Jud. Dist. Ct. ex rel. Cty. of Clark, 188 P.3d 55, 58-59 (Nev. 2008) (analyzing a similar statute and noting, it “plainly includes mothers-in-law, fathers-in-law, sisters-in-law, and brothers-in-law” based in part on the fact that “a person of ordinary intelligence would interpret the phrase ‘related by blood or marriage’ to include a person’s direct in-laws”). But that is not to say the statute is limited to in-laws only. Indeed we agree with the State’s contention that the statute appears to define family or household member in broad terms. However, if literally construed the term “related by marriage” would encompass not only the attenuated relationship between Warren and Suggs, but it would also include even far more attenuated relationships as well, say for example, the aunts and uncles of second cousins three times removed.
We are not persuaded that by use of the term “related by marriage” the legislature intended to include an infinite variety of relationships whose only connection is a marriage or series of marriages identified somewhere on the remote branches of a family tree. The statute is thus ambiguous in that it admits of more than one interpretation. We therefore seek to give a practical application to the meaning of the statute by construing it in a way that avoids absurdity. See Merritt, 829 N.E.2d at 475.
….
It appears to us that rather than extending the scope of “related by marriage” to an infinite configuration of marital relationships the legislature intended instead to employ the term in its commonly understood meaning namely, related by “affinity.” As applied to the facts here, we assume for the sake of discussion that Suggs’ aunt is his mother’s sister. [Footnote omitted.] Suggs is obviously related by blood to his mother and his mother’s sister. As for Warren, although she is related by blood to her own brother and related by affinity to her brother’s wife (the sister of Suggs’ mother), she is not related by blood or affinity to Suggs. And this is so because Suggs is the blood relative of one spouse—his mother’s sister—and Warren is the blood relative of the other spouse—her own brother. “There is no affinity between the blood relatives of one spouse and the blood relatives of the other.” 2 Wharton’s Criminal Law § 242 at 573.
In essence, the evidence is not sufficient to show that Suggs is related to Warren by marriage as the term is used in Indiana Code section 35-31.5-2-128. Accordingly, Warren is not a family or household member within the meaning of the statute elevating misdemeanor battery to a level 6 felony.
Conclusion
We reverse Suggs’ conviction for battery as a level 6 felony and remand this cause to the trial court with instructions to enter judgment on battery as a class A misdemeanor and to resentence accordingly.
Rush, C.J., and Dickson, David and Massa, JJ., concur.