Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

i was served a subpoena from the das office stating i had to appear on tuesday at 8am for a jurry trial as the main and only witness for the da....there were other witnesses but they dissmissed all of them for the trial except for me.. this is a battery case with me being the victom. when this happened i was not the one to call the cops and did not want them to be called at all. when i was able to get away from the defendant i ran to the neighbors to calm down and wait for him to leave my home. they asked if i wanted to call the police i said NO.. they without my knowledge called them.. when i went to leave the cops were outside allready.. they took statements and pics of my face head chest ect. the deffendant ran for a few months and now is in jail and is pleeding not guilty..they are making me testify and if i do not show will be arrested.. i do not want to press charges or have anything to do with this case myself.. what can i do...there are other witnesses and the da knows this.. i am scared of what backlash from people that know him will be.. and i do not want to worry about that. i am a single mother of two boys one who has faught cancer for the last 6yrs and still fighting..he is only12...and a 17yr old senior in hs this year too.i work full time at staterbross all diff. hours and am not home a lot or it is very late when i get home.. i can not have anymore drama at my work over this or i can not miss any more time from my work due to this and my work is how my son gets his insurance for his treatments... please tell me what i can do on tuesday when i go to court and have to see the da... i do not want to go to jail either because i wont say anything i would loose my job too if that happened.. thank you for your time and knowledge you have given me. I will be waiting for your response back to me hopefully very soon.. god bless and have a great rest of the day..... Rebecca Versolenko


Asked on 9/01/11, 1:44 pm

2 Answer from Attorneys
David M. Wallin Law Offices OF David M. Wallin

If you were "personally" served, ie: someone handed you the subpena, then that is good service. If you got it in the mail, that is not good service. If you were personally served, not appearing would be "contempt of court". As to you NOT testifying because you are afraid for you and your child, you should talk to the D.A about that. If this a gang member, the DA is going to push hard for your testimony. If he's not a gang member, the DA may be more receptive to your feelings. Maybe the mere fact that you show up and the defendant sees you there, may get him to negotiate a deal and therefore testimony will not be neccessary. I wish you well. I know you are in a hard place. David Wallin

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Answered on 9/01/11, 2:56 pm


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