Can You Avoid Your Domestic Violence Case in Los Angeles Being Filed Against You?
This is a new unique concept to a lot of people when they get arrested for a domestic violence case. A lot of them think they've already been charged, when in reality, they have not been charged.
All they've been arrested. They've been booked by the police, processed, fingerprinted, typically bail can range from $50,000.00 to $20,000.00 and especially with the Coronavirus going on, a bail can be zero.
Although domestic violence is one area that they're typically going to put some sort of a bail because they want to feel like they're doing everything they can to protect the victim in a domestic violence situation in Los Angeles.
Prosecutors File Domestic Violence Charges
So, the question is, who files these cases? The answer, very simply, is prosecutors. So, the police do not have the ability to file a criminal case. They can arrest somebody. They can send them into court. They can investigate the case.
They can talk to witnesses and then they provide the information to the prosecutors in LA county, and they're the ones that make the final decision. There's a couple of different prosecuting agencies that typically deal with these domestic violence cases in deciding whether to file them.
That's why the query in the beginning, can you avoid getting your case filed is a valid one, because sometimes we can avoid a criminal filing in a domestic violence case. It depends, of course, on a host of factors:
- whether you have a criminal record,
- what the injuries are,
- how strong the case is — to a degree.
Whether the victim wants you prosecuted does have some bearing, but it certainly does not weigh that heavily. In other words, if there's a clear domestic violence case — somebody's injured, they've got evidence and the victim does not want you prosecuted because you're their significant other.
Maybe you're their meal ticket so you get money and you don't have to work — whatever the case may be, the prosecutors don't care about that. If they've got the case, they're going to file it.
Factors Why Domestic Violence Cases Are Not Filed
But there are cases where it's questionable. I just had a case not filed because both parties ended up getting arrested by the police, because when the police got to the scene after 9-1-1 was called, they couldn't tell who the aggressor was.
They couldn't tell really who a crime should have been charged against, so they therefore made the decision not to file the case. Other reasons that domestic violence cases aren't filed is, I contact them pre-filing:
- I send them a letter;
- We tell them about the client;
- We tell them about the circumstances that the police didn't know leading up to them coming over there, and:
- Sometimes we even give them the client's side of the story — the client's version of the story.
I've even included letters from alleged victims discussing what they didn't tell the police when they got there because they were afraid. They didn't want to get arrested themselves.
So, it is possible to avoid a filing in a domestic violence case if there's some sort of a problem with it and your criminal defense attorney can exploit that problem and use it to your advantage.
Best Criminal Defense for California Domestic Violence Charges
But make no mistake about it. Just because you don't want the case filed against you because it would ruin your career, or whatever the case may be, or because your loved one doesn't want the case filed against you, that's not going to be good enough to avoid a filing.
If you want to avoid a filing, we're going to have to have an angle, and in my opinion, your best chance to avoid a criminal filing in a domestic violence case in Los Angeles is to hire a criminal defense attorney right away.
That attorney's job will be to try to prevent the filing and do what is necessary under the circumstances of your particular case.
That's the best way to handle a situation when you've been arrested for a domestic violence case and you're hoping for a non-filing.
Pick up the phone. I've been doing this close to 30 years with a lot of success all over Los Angeles county, zeroing in these domestic violence cases to get the best result.
Hedding Law Firm is a criminal law firm located in the San Fernando Valley at 16000 Ventura Blvd #1208 Encino, CA 91436.
We serve individuals throughout Southern California, including Los Angeles County, Orange County, Anaheim, Costa Mesa, Long Beach, Ventura County, Hollywood, Riverside, and San Bernardino. Contact our office for a free case evaluation at (213) 542-0979.
