Legal Question in Family Law in California
physical abuse
I am 6months pregnant and my partner was charged on March 7th 2007 for physical abuse. We restled and I fell. I was concerned about the baby and wanted to go to the hospital. I called the police to get my things out and leave. I ended up at the hospital and He ended up at the police station arested and charged. He had his first court appearance already. I wrote a statement to the police explaining what happened. I have a copy of the statement. We are not to communicate with each other. So we have not talked since. I want to drop the charges. Is it too late to do so?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: physical abuse
You do not have the choice of whether the case proceeds. That choice is in the hands of th district attorney. Most counties take domestic violence charges very seriously and seldom dismiss these cases. Once the police become involved you lose control over the situation. Further in most cases domestic violence escalates unless there is counseling of the violent party.
Re: physical abuse
The police and DA will tell you that you have no control over whether charges are filed or dropped, and that dropping the charges is at their discretion. But, in reality, if they are not going to have a credible witness at trial, it is unlikely they will proceed with the case, at least all the way to trial, although I have seen them wait until the day of trial to announce they were dismissing the case. I am confused by what you mean by "we are not allowed to talk to each other." First of all, a court cannot legally make such an order as that would violate your first amendment right to free speech. You could probably get such an order overturned. If the DA or police told you that, you can ignore them.