I know this reply is rather late, but I write it in hopes that it
helps someone in the near future. For future people of D.A. abuse
(District Attorney).
Domestic Violence is one of those laws that is sorta 'added' to other
charges to enhance them, a little like 'hate laws'. It often just
adds severity to another crime, such as 'harassment'. Harassment may
not normally be considered Domestic Violence, but it can if it was
done to someone you are living with.
The consequences of Domestic Violence follow you for the rest of your
life. If you are in the military, you will be discharged because you
are no longer EVER allowed to have a firearm. If you hunt, you best
start trying to hunt using a bow and arrow. EXCEPT IN VERY VERY
SEVERE CASES, I STRONGLY RECOMMEND THAT YOU DO "NOT" TAKE A PLEA
BARGAIN.
The first thing that I wish to point out is that a D.A. cannot drop
your case without good reason. It is possible that he may want to but
needs the excuse. This may be the case if the case is 'stupid' such
as 'he threw a glass of water on you' type of thing, or if he believes
he has little or no case to begin with (a jury may not wish to
prosecute a person for throwing a glass of water on you). If you
believe that this is the case, you may provide him with the excuse.
This could be done with a simple case of calling the D.A. up and
telling him that you lied in your testimony and providing another
story, it could be by telling him you just left the state and have no
desire to come back and testify and ASK him to please just drop the
case, and it could be by simply IGNORING the D.A. and not returning
any of his calls (unreliable witness excuse). None of these are
guaranteed to work if the D.A. is insistent in following through with
your case.
In the line of preventive measures, in the future I very very strongly
suggest that if the police are ever called out to a residence, you DO
NOT INVITE THEM IN, and YOU KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT and tell them you do
not wish to answer any questions. If there are huge bruises and blood
squirting from the face from a brutal beating, I still STRONGLY
RECOMMEND these measures, even if you are the victim. In such a case,
they will still make a police re****t, BUT you have MUCH MORE CONTROL
over the situation. If you desire, you can always bring the police
re****t with you in the future for a future case or to press charges in
a future case, but if you testify at that very moment, you have given
full authority to the D.A. and the police to continue with the
testimony you have provided and you have LITTLE OR NO CONTROL about it
in the future.
If the D.A. is insistent, then you should probably focus on the 'key
formula'. Money. Prosecuting a case takes time and money, make it
expensive and hard. Try to get a public defender or get the court to
assign an attorney for you. The case changes dramatically when an
attorney is involved (it gets you respect) especially if it is COSTING
the state to provide that attorney. Costing the D.A. time and money
will either cause him to want to give up, or just piss him off some
more, it depends on his resolve in prosecuting the case, only you can
decide.
Despite your best intentions, it is best if you DO NOT SHOW UP AT ALL
NOR TALK TO THE D.A. AT ALL, NEVER EVER NEVER EVER. You husband is
now in jail and the D.A. is getting ahold of you to invite you to the
hearing. This is the point where the D.A. starts threatening YOU and
serving YOU with all sorts of nasties. DO NOT ATTEND THE HEARING, DO
NOT ANSWER THE PHONE. This is what they will do:
1. They will order you to cut off ALL contact with your husband from
24 to 72 hours. (This is their first phase, where they cut off
communications to go in for the kill. They know if there is
communication between you and your husband, there is more potential).
They do this in the guise that they are just trying to protect you.
2. They will serve you your subpoena to force you to testify against
your husband. (I recommend you just stay at home, don't answer the
phone, and lock the door and don't answer it. If they cannot serve
you, you cannot be forced to testify).
3. They will threaten you with contempt of court if you do not
testify.
4. If children are involved, they may threaten you into filing a child
abuse re****t, saying that if you do not file it, they will file one
against you. They may threaten to take your kids away from you if you
do not file it.
If you file the child abuse re****t against your husband, you have just
involved you, your children, and your entire family. Child Protective
Services is a very very very dangerous organization, you have just
invited the devil into your home to tear your family apart.
Stay at home, do not talk to the D.A., after the hearing, send a
bondsman to bail your husband out.
Now, lets say you have already goofed up everything up to this point.
You have talked to the D.A. and you are at the point where you are
being forced to testify. It now depends on whose resolve is greater,
the D.A.s or yours.
I will start by saying that I totally believe that the sanctity of
marriage is a very solemn and holy and strong bond. Till death do us
part, forever and always. The D.A.s attack against your husband is an
attack against you and your family and you have an honor bound oath to
stand by your husband regardless of the cost. But then again, you may
feel differently about this for whatever reasons, again it depends
totally on whose resolve is greater.
At your husband's trial, they WILL have an expert ready to testify
against both your husband and YOU!!! The expert will go into the
issues of Domestic Violence and how terrible it is and even testify
that IF YOU DO NOT TESTIFY AGAINST YOUR HUSBAND it is because you are
mentally deranged from the abuse environment.
There are a few things you can do to help your husband. You can get
together and talk about what you will testify about. You can get
'memory problems' and forget a lot. One good thing would probably be
to change your story a LOT and make it look like you have been lying
to begin with, along with a good reason for the lying (such as he
cheated on you). Do not show up to court looking nice, dress
terribly. The thing you are doing here is you are making yourself out
as an unreliable witness. You may wish to let it slip that you were
puffing on a joint or drinking up a storm on that night, or about the
last time you were arrested for filing a false police re****t. You may
just wish to sit on the stand and SHUT UP, taking the 'contempt of
court' charge for a while. One thing is sure, a 'contempt of court'
charge is MUCH LESS SEVERE than a Domestic Violence charge.
Not calling the D.A. anymore, not returning his calls, may cause him
to believe your are an unreliable witness and have him drop the case
all together. One lady called an ambulance to her house on the day of
the hearing and checked herself into the hospital for alleged 'panic
attacks' (something difficult to prove or disprove with absolute
certainty, which resembled that of a heart attack with chest pains).
In this manner, she didn't show up and had an excuse in case the D.A.
wished to continue.
In a large number of cases, the D.A. NEEDS YOUR TESTIMONY in order to
prosecute and he well knows it. Your husband HAS A RIGHT to confront
all witnesses, including you, and your not showing up could very much
have the case thrown out.
btw, none of this is legal advice, some of it may be illegal.
However, it DID come from people I have spoken to that have been in
exactly the same situation. Depending on the severity of the case,
the D.A. does not usually likie to persue forcing testimony from a
victim. They do have the right, but there is a good chance that he
will not and your lack of cooperation may just have him drop the case
all together.
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