This is obviously something that's on a lot of people's minds if they're charged with a domestic violence case because nobody wants to suffer the consequences that come along with the domestic violence conviction in Los Angeles. When you start thinking about how you win the case, you're going to have to have a good angle to be able to attack the case.
Credibility of the Alleged Domestic Violence Victim
One way to do it is if the alleged victim's credibility is not good. So, if the alleged victim has made some statements that are simply not true — and the defense can prove they're not true — and they relate to an important aspect of the case, then obviously that would be the makings of trying to win a domestic violence case.
A perfect example that I see all the time is, alleged victims claim they are attacked, they're hit in the face and the alleged perpetrator is somebody who is a good-sized person, who if they punched you in the face would obviously significantly hurt you and leave some sort of an injury.
The police come along and report there's no injury to the person's face. Now you start to scratch your head and say, wait a minute. If somebody punched you in the face, why do you not have some sort of a mark? You must not be telling the truth about that, and if you're lying about that what else are you lying about?
Also, if the person has a motive to lie about a domestic violence case, in my experience that's one way to win the case because you can show that that person has a motive — maybe they're planning on divorcing the other party or they're in the middle of divorcing the party or they're in the middle of a child custody dispute. There could be a whole host of different reasons why that person has a motive to lie.
So, you combine with a motive to lie with some sort of a problem in the case and now you start to realize that you can actually win the case because the jury is going to start to question why that person is lying about certain things.
Why that person's credibility is suspect, and you combine that with the motive to lie, and now you start to get yourself in a good position to be able to win the case and that's what you're trying to do if you decide to take the case to trial.
Self-Defense in Domestic Violence Cases
Another area that I've seen where you can win a domestic violence case is if you have a defense. Let's say for example the other party attacked you and went after you and tried to hurt you, and all you did was defend yourself against that attack.
That would be another way to win a domestic violence case, to be able to say, I was simply defending myself. I did not do anything wrong. The person attacked me and in the process of attacking me, they ended up hurting themselves.
That would be another good example of a way to win a domestic violence case — to have a defense to the case, like self-defense, for example. All I did was push the person away from me as they were attacking me and in the process of them attacking me they ended up hurting themselves. I see this all the time.
Somebody attacks another person; the other person's bigger and stronger and is able to fend the off and they're able to get away from the other party, but in that process, the person ends up hurting themselves — falls to the ground, crashes into a mirror near the front door — there's a whole host of different things that I've seen happen in criminal cases throughout the last 25 years.
So, your best strategy if you really want to try to win your case is to have a good conversation with your criminal defense attorney. Tell your criminal defense attorney the truth about what happened.
Let them put together the defense for you. Let them let you know whether or not you actually have a good defense that makes any sense. You don't want to be lying to yourself and think you have a good defense when you really don't.
You and your defense attorney need to be on the same page when it comes to these domestic violence cases, is whether or not it's the type of offense that you actually could win and be successful at a trial.
