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Home/Practice Areas/Criminal Defense/Domestic violence charges
An accusation made during the worst week of a relationship follows you long after the relationship is over — into custody, housing, employment and your gun rights.
Criminal Defense
An assault family violence case is rarely just a criminal case. It arrives with an emergency protective order that can put you out of your own home, it lands in the middle of a custody dispute or starts one, and a conviction — or even certain deferred outcomes — carries a family violence finding that affects firearm rights and cannot be sealed. That is why the disposition matters more here than almost anywhere else in misdemeanor practice.
Officers responding to a call are trained to identify a primary aggressor and make an arrest. The decision is often made in minutes, on incomplete information, from a scene where both people are upset. What follows — the 911 audio, body camera footage, the injuries actually documented or not documented, the text messages either side sent that night and afterwards, and prior inconsistent accounts — frequently tells a different story than the offence report.
This surprises almost everyone. Once charges are filed the case belongs to the State, and a wish to have it dropped does not end it — the prosecutor can proceed with the 911 call, photographs and officer testimony. An affidavit of non-prosecution is a document with real legal consequences for the person signing it and should never be prepared by the accused or their family.
They are not the majority of cases and they are far from rare, especially where custody, immigration status or a residence is at stake. Those cases are won with documentation: timelines, messages, witnesses, and the physical implausibility of what is described. They are lost by contacting the complainant to sort it out, which is itself usually a bond violation and a new charge.
Criminal matters are quoted as a flat fee for a defined stage of the case, so you know what representation costs before you commit to it. Payment plans are available. What the fee buys is a lawyer who appears at your settings, reads the file rather than skimming it, and tells you honestly which parts of the State's case are weak and which are not.
No. Once charges are filed the case belongs to the State, and it can proceed on the emergency call, photographs and officer testimony alone.
A sworn statement asking the State not to pursue the case. It has real legal consequences for the person signing it and should never be prepared by the accused or their family.
Not without going through the proper process. Violating the order is a separate offence and it will be treated as consciousness of guilt.
No. It is usually a bond violation, it is often a new charge, and it converts a defensible case into a tampering allegation.
Significantly, and the family case often moves faster than the criminal one. The two need to be handled with each other in mind.
A conviction or a family violence finding carries state and federal firearm consequences, and the federal restriction is effectively permanent.
It can, seriously. The safest disposition in criminal court is not always the safest one for immigration, so tell us your status at the first meeting.
A family violence finding generally cannot be sealed, which is why the finding itself is worth fighting rather than only the sentence.
It happens, particularly where custody, immigration status or a residence is at stake. Those cases are won with timelines, messages and witnesses — not by confronting the accuser.
Stop discussing the case with anyone but your lawyer, follow every bond condition exactly, and write down what happened while it is fresh.
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