Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

This is getting to be more and more common. It has gotten so easy to trash an "enemy's" reputation, career and life out of spite with a fake domestic violence complaint, it was inevitable that men would start playing the game. I am seeing more and more of it.

No, she should not try to defend herself. This is a very serious offense, and she needs to fight it for all she is worth. Her lack of knowledge of the rules of evidence and court procedure will likely prevent her from getting all her good evidence in front of the jury. If she cannot afford a private lawyer, then she should take the case to trial with a public defender. With the evidence she has of prior incidents, and especially if he is considerably bigger than her, she stands an excellent chance of being acquitted and then a factual innocence order entered to clear her arrest record as well.

No, she cannot force the police to re-write their reports. I am suspicious about the failure to ever arrest him. That is sooooo contrary to almost universal police policy in DV cases, that I suspect that her ex has friends in the police department who protect him. Her being a woman should have had the opposite effect; they should have rushed to her help, because that is what usually happens.

Good luck to her, but I feel that if all you have said is true, then it will come out well for her, as long as she does not cave in and plead to some reduced charge (which would hurt her just as much as the ones they dismiss). The last case like this one I had was in San Jose, and the D.A. took the case right up to the date of trial, and when I did not "fold" and plead out my female client, they dismissed all charges. I will now petition for a finding of factual innocence to clear her record.

Oh, one more thing. If you DO uncover evidence that the ex is buddies with local cops and they had anything to do with his not getting arrested previously, the D.A. will be highly motivated to dismiss. Try to find that evidence. I am betting it is there.

She can represent herself, but the outcome is likely to be less than satisfactory. She needs to either retain an attorney to represent her or request that the court appoint an attorney to represent her. All of her evidence will be o no value unless she knows how to present it in court.

I concur with the above two assessments. Your sister has some very serious charges against her and they need to be treated as such. While she has evidence to the contrary, that will not automatically allowed into Court.

If your sister cannot hire an attorney in her area, the public defender will be appointed. Either way, let the attorney do the talking.... Good luck with the situation.

I will just chime in to add that no one should ever represent themselves � that includes lawyers!

In this case, there is another very important reason in this case that your sister will be harmed if she represents herself. One possibility to explain why the police did not arrest her hubby previously is because they simply did NOT find her credible (rightly or wrongly). Given that, she should absolutely NOT represent herself. Now, more than ever, the cops will be working against her. They will characterize prior incidents in a way that undermines her credibility. They will, if they haven�t already, convince the DA that your sister is not to be believed. Only a good criminal defense lawyer will know how to deal with this.

Do your sister a favor and insist that she hire a good lawyer.

You now should by now understand that the only thing you can do to help her is get her an experienced attorney to use whatever facts, evidence, law, arguments and sympathies she may have available in her defense. There is no magic wand here, and no one is going to tell you he can make these charges disappear. The police and DA have already reviewed the case and concluded they can convict her; that's why they brought the charges. Her attorney will present whatever motions and defenses are appropriate in hearings or trial if necessary. If serious about getting her counsel, feel free to contact me. If she can't afford private counsel, make sure she applies for the Public Defender.