I've been defending these domestic violence cases now for twenty-five years and they don't ever seem to go away. I think that as long as people are together, they're going to have arguments, they're going to have issues, and you know, twenty-five years ago the police did not take domestic violence cases as seriously as they do now. Now they have a policy that if they go out to a house and there's been some sort of argument or a fight — any type of physical contact — especially where they can see injuries, they're going to take somebody to jail. That's just their policy and there's going to be at least a $50,000.00 bail placed on the person.
This really puts you in a bad position. You're having to spend a lot of money to get out and you're now charged with a crime and depending on how bad the injuries are can be charged as a felony or a misdemeanor, you could be facing jail time, prison time, a ten year ban on weapons, domestic violence classes once a week for a years, probation for three years. All sorts of bad things that just all stem from an argument that you had with your significant other.
So, how do you turn the tide on these cases? How do you deal with them? How do you make sure that you get the best resolution based on what happened in your case, and the answer is very simple — you've got to hire a lawyer who knows what their doing, who's handled these cases. You can give them all the information related to you, your side of the story, your version of events. The sad thing is, sometimes people try to take advantage of another person in a divorce-type situation or a child custody situation because they know if they can get the person convicted or a crime or domestic violence, they can get a domestic violence restraining orders against them, they've got a huge advantage in the divorce case or in the child custody case and they stand to gain a lot of money from that upper hand.
Protective Orders
So, with these type of stakes on the line, it's more important now for people to make a right decision when it comes to their domestic violence case. Another new thing that I'm seeing going on across Los Angeles county is that prosecutors are taking the position that if somebody gets charged with a domestic violence case, they're going to block them from being able to see their significant other. They're going to put what's called a protective order in place once a person goes to court and that person is going to be ordered to stay at least 100 yards away from their significant other.
This is a huge problem. Sometimes people are living together and they've got children together. So, this now creates a gigantic problem for them. Whereas before this whole push towards blocking somebody from seeing the other person for a period of time — month, two months, three months — until they get into the domestic violence program and they see some sort of progress from that person in moving in the right direction and not getting themselves involved in anymore of these domestic violence-related situations.
So, the only way I've seen to get out of that is to try and start doing the classes early. Go in there with your significant other and try to make a pitch to the prosecutor not to keep you away from each other. One thing people don't realize is it's not you against the other person or the other person against you, it's the People of the State of California who are now prosecuting you for domestic violence. So, even if the other party says, you know what, I've decided I don't want that person prosecuted, the prosecutors don't care. If they think a crime has occurred, they believe that they can prove it, then they're going to proceed ahead, file against the person and deal with it how they see fit. Not how you see fit.
A lot of times they will get input from the person who is the allege victim in the case, but ultimately, it's their decision on how the domestic violence case is dealt with and what they do to protect the alleged victim and to protect society from people who become violent when they get in an argument with another person instead of walking away, or only using their mouth to talk, they start to get physical and use their hands, injuries occur and that's where the prosecutors are really going to get involved and make sure that everybody is protected and the person is punished if they believe they've committed a domestic violence offense in Los Angeles county.
So, pick the phone up and call a domestic violence lawyer at our office. Let's sit down. Let's talk and see what I can do to help protect your rights, your freedom, your reputation and your connection with the other person if that's something you choose to continue to be involved with.
