Legal Question in Personal Injury in California

Only the DA can file or drop charges. Crimes are considered to be against the people of the state, not just the individual victim. Depending on the DA's policy and the deputy handling the case, the victim's wishes may carry great weight or no weight at all. For example, look at the San Francisco Sheriff who is charged with misdemeanor DV. His wife wants the case dropped, but because of who he is, the DA is forging ahead with the case.

In California, whether to drop charges is the DA's decision and not the victim's. The victim's wishes matter, but the DA does not have to abide by them.

It is very common for the victim in domestic violence (DV) cases to want the charges dropped. That often happens because the defendant has committed or threatened further violence. Another common reason is that the victim has become conditioned not to act out against the defendant. These are good reasons for the DA to proceed with a case even if the victim wants it dropped. And since DAs usually can't tell which DV cases these are, they often disregard a victim's request to drop the charges.

Police and DA policy is that once charges are made, the victim's changed desires no longer count. They know that most victims ask for charges to be dropped and beg for mercy for the criminal out of fear, intimidation, threats, etc. If what you did was make a false police report, you can be prosecuted for that. If you made a genuine call for help, the system is going to follow through on punishing the criminal that committed the violence.