Michigan Attorney for Domestic Violence Charge – Need Advice – Want to Drop Domestic Violence Charges Against My Boyfriend

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Michigan domestic violence attorneys at www.alllegalmatters.com

My boyfriend and I recently got into a really, really bad arguments and I said some nasty things and everything got crazy and my neighbors called the St. Clair Shores police department. I wasn’t beat or anything but my boyfriend grabbed me and the police made me write a statement and then arrested my boyfriend for dometic violence. He also had a warrant for not showing up to court on a suspended license charge, so now he’s in jail and has to wait to be brought to the 37th District Court in Warren for an arraignment they say, and the police told me he can’t come back to the house because the judge won’t let him contact us.  We have a 4 year old together and I need him home I have to work next week and he’s laid off and now I have no one to watch our boy!

I just want to drop the charges for the domestic violence against my boyfriend because this has just been blown way out of proportion but the police say its not up to me and the prosecutor is in charge now. How is that right?? How can Michigan domestic violence laws be like that? Can’t I just drop the domestic violence charges against my boyfriend because the whole reason he’s being charged is because he grabbed me right?? I don’t get it.

Comments

  1. paul on May 16, 2009 at 10:39 pm said:

    Thank you for visiting http://www.alllegalmatters.com and joining our forum.

    Your domestic violence question is a familar one for the Michigan attorneys at Canu Torrice Law, as we have literally represented thousands of domestic violence cases in Lapeer County, Macomb County, Oakland County, St. Clair County, Wayne County, and everywhere else in Michigan over the years. Unfortunately, the minute you as the complaining witness make a police report after a domestic incident, the case is entirely out of your hands. Domestic violence is a frustrating case for police and prosecutors. Police have a legitimate reason to fear for their safety in a domestic situation, more than almost any other daily police patrol assignment, due to the high potential for an angry and/or intoxicated individual acting out in a violent manner towards police because they see it as a “private fight.” Also, they generally hate these types of cases because it is usually like a Jerry Springer episode when they arrive. Therefore, when a domestic violence call is made to police, if there is ANY evidence of an assault or battery, the offending person is going to jail, period. Prosecutors also don’t like domestic violence charges because many times the victim, their “star witness,” doesn’t want to pursue the case after everything calms down, and never even shows up for a trial. This makes for the prosecutors already burdensome case load to be increased with nonesense cases that never go anywhere.

    There is a reason that domestic violence is very easy to charge, but difficult to prosecute. Domestic violence is just an assault and/o battery between a certain class of people, essentially family or lovers, and that is a class of people who have been committing assault and battery on each other since the beginning of time. Here’s a crash course in criminal law 101 . . . an assault doesn’t even mean that you, as a victim, were every physically touched, just placed in fear of being touched. For example, if someone places you in a reasonable fear of an unwanted bodliy touching, like by hurling a glass or a beer bottle at your head from across the room that shatters against the wall, but never hits you or hurts you, that is still an assault, and domestic violence. It is often said that battery is the mere consumation of an assault, meaning you were actually hit or touched in an unwanted manner.

    Think of how many times you fought with your parents, your brother, your adult child, your spouse, your boyfriend, etc. over the years. Now think of how many times during your fights you threw something, grabbed the other person, or lost your temper and did something your regretted but made for up afterwards. That’s called human nature. That’s what Michigan law, and all law across the US, calls domestic violence. All a domestic violence charge amounts to is simply an assault and/or battery commited between people who are family, who live together, or who have a child together. In your case, by grabbing you, by your own admission to the police, your boyfriend committed a domestic violence . . . unless of course he was simply engaging in self defense because you were trying to claw his eyes or our hit him, as is oftentimes the case.

    In Michigan, when a defendant is charged with domestic violence an immediate “no contact” order will usually be entered by the magistrate or judge at the arraignment, like in your boyfriend’s domestic violence case in St. Clair Shores, which means until further order of the court that defendant charged with domestic violence cannot go back home, or call you, text message you, send letters to you, or have any form of contact with you as the “complaining witness/victim” in any way whatsoever. This is designed to protect the abused and/or assaulted individual in a domestic violence situation. This may be hard to understand for your right now, but if you were an elected offical like a judge, or a prosecutor, who would have to answer to the media if a no contact order was lifted and then you were seriously hurt or killed by the defendant just charged with domestic violence, it would make sense.

    However, no contact orders can always be modified if you, the victim, consent and tell the court and the prosecutor that you are not in fear of harm if the defendant has contact with you again. An experienced Michgan criminal law/ domestic violence attorney can accomplish this by bringing a Emergency Motion to Amend Bond, or by bringing a bond motion at the first Pre-Trial Conference court date by letting the prosecutor and the court know of your wishes. You may contact the prosector or the police department yourself in advance of court, but many times they just ignore you and never call you back . . . and regardless you will have to be physically present in court to testify before the judge that you are not in fear and want to have contact with the defendant again to amend this court order, a phone call won’t get it done. An attorney needs to be involved. Also remember, the court can always say “no” depending on the circumstances of the case if they feel that the risk of danger to the complaining witness/victim is too great.

    The one thing that many people don’t understand is that once domestic violence charges are authorized by the city attorney or prosecutor, the person who is the “victim” in the case has no say over whether the case goes forward or not – it is entirely up to the prosecuting official. This is because the prosecutor, on behalf of the city, township, or state where the crime occured, is the attorney charging defendant with the crime – the victim lacks the authority to prosecute the case. The vicitm’s only role is filing the initial domestic violence police report; the prosecutor carries the prosecution of the domestic violence after that.

    Now, although most reasonable prosectors will at least listen to a complaining witness who doesn’t wish to pursue a domestic violence charge, they likely will not dismiss the case simply at the victim’s insistance. Otherwise, most cases would be dismissed before the first court date. Counselors for abused spouses at places like Turning Point and other abused spouse and family counseling shelters could talk for 2 hours about the reasons why this is. The nutshell summary is that domestic violence charges, by nature, usually involve people who love each other or have feelings for one another. . . and therefore after their loved one is arrested they do not want to pursue the case any longer.

    This is why dometic violence cases are so hard to prosecute, and this is also why the Michgan attorneys at Canu Torrice Law have had countless domestic violence cases dismissed at trial. The attorneys at http://www.alllegalmatters.com exploit the weaknesses inherent in domestic violence charges in Michigan courts for their clients’ advantage. Honestly, we have had more domestic violence cases dismissed then plead or tried by judge and jury.

    The prosecutors and judges in St. Clair Shores, Michgan are extremely reasonable people, and they are individuals who the Michigan lawyers at Canu Torrice Law practice with frequently, but they also have a job to do. Without an experience and qualified Michigan criminal defense attorney representing your boyfriend, like the lawyers at Canu Torrice Law who know the system and the courts in St. Clair Shores, it is going to be an extremely difficult matter to get this case dismissed outright, and get the father of your child back home.

    Although domestic violence cases can be resolved easily if it is a first offense situation, it involves a burdensome course of probation that usually lasts a year. If your boyfriend has no prior convictions for domestic violence, then he is eligible to have the case taken “under advisement” pursuant to a Michigan law commonly called by defense attorneys as “769.4a.” Under a plea agreement pursuant to 769.4a, a domestic violence defendant can keep their record clean and earn a dismissal of the case after successfully completing probation, which usually includes a mandatory period of “anger management counseling.” Unfortunatley, probation is time consuming, inconvenient, and often very expensive, and anger management counseling likewise costs money.

    Domestic violence charges are difficult for the prosecutor and police to pursue for many reasons, largely because of the reluctance of the complaining witness to proceed, or because the “victim” wasn’t really so much as a victim as an equally responsible party to the fight.

    At Canu Torrice Law we represent both defendants AND complaining witnesses/victims who no longer desire to pursue a domestic violence case against their sigificant other or family member because they wish to raise their 5th Amendment privledge against self-incrimination. We have had numerous domestic violence cases dismissed, and we can help you and your boyfriend in this case if you act quicky.

    If you want to see your boyfriend again anytime soon, contact the Michigan criminal attorneys at http://www.alllegalmatters.com today at (586) 285-1700. We can have him home as soon as Monday afternoon if you call today, because our legal staff and our attorneys are available 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week. We wish you the best of luck.

    PETER A. TORRICE
    Canu Torrice Law
    (586) 285-1700
    http://www.alllegalmatters.com

  2. No wonder I have you boys on retainer, you’re the best attorneys I swear!!!

    I’ll say this right now, Canu Torrice Law are the greatest criminal attorneys I have ever used, and I have been in trouble since I was 12 years old no lie.

  3. Nick on May 28, 2009 at 9:17 pm said:

    These guys got my case dismissed in Shelby Township. No probation, no fines, walked right out the door. A++++ Michigan attorneys. Aggressive and affordable compared to every other attorney I have ever used. http://WWW.ALLLEGALMATTERS.COM is the best. Thanks Peter Torrice!

  4. Canu Torrice Law got my case dismissed last week against my crazy ex girlfriend who scratched my fac made up all types of lies and i went to jail that night and got kicked out of my own apartment for her bs and psycho lies They got me back in my house, case dismissed and delivered on everything they promised

    Great attorneys here folks 🙂

  5. St8fukd on January 25, 2011 at 10:38 pm said:

    Michigan law is messed up and so are the sheriffs in Macomb county here in Mt Clemens i cant believe that all someone has to do is call 911 for domestic violence make some story up that they thought they were afraid gonna get hit and the police told me they have to take me to jail when she says that with no marks bruises nothin but lies. i lost money from missing work didnt sleep for days over this ha to leave my house and spent a bunch of money to defend myself against something i didnt do and paid that judge like 1500 over my probation for 2 years. i used some attorney the court gave me for this domestic violence case and that was my biggest mistake of all cept being with taht woman in thes first place. If i could have paid for an attorney for this domestic violence charge like yous i wish i would have i got 6 monthes of counseling wit this idiot who never could remember my name talking about anger management stuff.

  6. Cathy on July 6, 2011 at 4:31 pm said:

    Same problem here! Neighbor got involved on my fight with my bf in Warren Michigan and now hes in jail cant come home and i need someone to help us. Polie wouldnt listen to anything I said and were tryong to make me sign a paper that said he hurt me. The prosecutors who are supposed to be working for us, right? Wont call me back at all. Court says they will get in touch with your when they need you. What about my man and his rights, or my rights? I need lawyers to fight this case and then I want to sue warren police for violating our rights.

  7. Canu Torrice Law on January 30, 2012 at 10:44 pm said:

    At Canu Torrice Law, this is one of the most frequent issues we encounter with Domestic Violence claims in Michigan. We have a large success rate in the dismissal of frivilous DV charges.

    Call our law firm today for a free consultation. We have attorneys available 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week to assist you.

    Canu Torrice Law
    http://www.AllLegalMatters.com
    (586) 285-1700

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