Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: restraining order

If she is and has been in jail since the day after the fight, it is unlikely that she sought a restraining order on her own. In cases of alleged domestic violence, the court will routinely set a no contact order, at the prosecutor's request, while the case is pending. They often do this without consulting with the complaining witness (the one making the accusation). If that's what happened in this case, and the wife no longer wants the no contact in effect and/or she will not be living in the house during the pendency of your father's case, all she has to do is notify your father's defense attorney and the lawyer can raise the issue with the court and get the order vacated or modified so that your father can remain in the house.

Also, many restraining order/no contact orders prevent the person from being within a certain distance of the protected person - not a physical location. Your father will need to read the order to see what it says. Living in the house may not even be an issue.

Re: restraining order

If you have not already done it, and assuming you SAW the fight so you know of personal knowledge, make sure that you give a written or recorded statement to the cop or detective who investigated the domestic incident.

You need to create a record of the fact that she attacked him with a weapon (hitting with any object is usually assault with a deadly weapon), so that the D.A. who reviews the case file will see the self defense angle and maybe not charge.

To answer your question, you should also make the police and D.A. and the Judge aware of the fact that she is in jail and that a stay away is not needed, or that the court should issue one against her for attacking him first. That's all you can do at this point, besides encouraging him to fight the criminal charge and not give himself a criminal record that will make it hard to get a job in the future.