If you have been arrested for a domestic violence offense it is imperative that you get legal counsel as soon as possible. Even as a misdemeanor domestic violence charge or conviction can have serious consequeces on your life.
As a former military policeman, probation officer, deputy district attorney, and criminal defense attorney, and adjunct criminology instructor, I know the system and the way to get you the very best outcome for your case. If you have me as your attorney you are in the right place. I have handles hundreds of these type of cases including high profile cases and cases involving complex facts and situations.
There are five areas you need to pay attention to in a misdemeanor domestic violence case.
1. The charge itself and the penalties for domestic violence as a misdemeanor.
2. The possible violations of a restraining order which will definitely be in place upon arrest for domestic violence
3. The loss of your gun rights for 10 years if you are convicted of
4. The fact that you will have to complet a 52 domestic violence class as well as complete other terms and coniditions of probation.
5. And as stated in other blog posts the dreaded pretext phone call where law enforcement will have your wife or girlfriend call and attempt to get you to make incriminating statements via the phone. Yes these are believe it or not legal.
Let me digress for a minute and explain what the elements of a misdemeanor domestic violence case are:
1. Defendant committed battery upon Victim
2. At the time of the battery, Victim was the defendant’s spouse or fiance, or an individual with whom the defendant currently has, or has previously had a dating relationship.
PC 243 e 1
If convicted you could revieve between 0-364 days in custody.
But as stated above a conviction even for a misdemeanor has the consequence of loss of firearm rights.
the statute states: Any person who has been convicted of a misdemanor violation of Section 243 e 1 and who within 10 years of the conviction, owns or possesses under his control any firearm is guilty of a public offense. PC 29805.
This punishment means that you cannot have a firearm in your possession or custody for a 10 year period.
There could also under some circumstances immigration consequences which must be explained to you.
usually included in your punishment will be fines and aowp time. What aowp stands for is alternative work program. Usually depending upon several factors for first time offenders the aowp time will not be substantial however, you will have to do some aowp time.
WHAT IF MY WIFE NO LONGER WANTS TO TESTIFY AGAINST ME?
This is a difficult and tricky situation. Unfortunately it is not as easy as your wife saying I no longer want to go forward. This is often the case and the district attorney makes final determinations on cases not the wife. Sometimes there will be enough evidence outside the wifes statement to where the district attorney will go forward without her. This could be in the form of witnesses, 911 calls, medical evidence, admissions by you, pictures etc. And the district attorney will take all of those factors into consideration before decidiing whether or not to pursue charges.
regardless of the situation it is important that you seek out experienced legal advice for the situation. give us a call and we can help you through this. The reason that I do this job is to help people that have been put in bad situations and help them through this time in there lives.
give us a call at 559 441-1418. and we will give you a case evaluation for free.
