Legal Question in Criminal Law in Florida

MY 18 year old daughter was beaten/assaulted by an 18 year old male. Daughter dated this individual about a year ago for the duration of 1-2 weeks. Since then he has constantly harrassed her, has done some minor vandalism to her car, spit in her face, stolen items from her car. Recently he showed up at a small get togethe/ party that she was at. He found out she was there and used some CD's that he stole from her car to bait her outside, once outside he punched her in the face twice then grabbed her by the hair and slammed her face into the side of a pick-up truck. She has a black eye and some minor swelling on her face. She did not call the LEO until the next morning. LEO advises that they can do nothing because she waited to call them. The complaint has been turned over to the State District Attorneys office. DA's office advises they will not recieve paperwork for several weeks. Now she is recieving calls from friends of the boy who beat her telling her that LEO isn't going to do anything and she needs to drop charges. I am feeling a little helpless now. Do I need to get a lawyer or just wait out the DA's office? LEO doesn't appear too interested, they did not take pictures of her face, just took a report. We took pictures ouselves and have them on file. Daughter is scared to death that he may come after her again before DA's office takes action, if this happens I will be the one in jail.


Asked on 8/19/10, 10:09 am

2 Answers from Attorneys
Craig Epifanio Craig Epifanio, P.A.

If your daughter is ever threatened or touched, spat at, vandalised, etc., she needs to immediately call the police. For now, she needs to go get an injunction against this guy. The state attorney's office may respond in a day or a month so for now, at least the injunction may offer some protection. Getting an attorney is also advisable as the injunction hearings are not always the easiest place to prove some of these things without an attorney so she should get one.

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Answered on 8/24/10, 2:00 pm
Richard Hornsby Richard E. Hornsby, P.A.

I would suggest hiring an attorney to apply for a Dating Violence Injunction, which will provide your daughter with some initial protection. Then, if he continues to contact her, he can be prosecuted for violating the injunction. Also, if he threatens her for cooperating with law enforcement, he can be prosecuted for Tampering with a Witness. So call the police each time he does this.

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Answered on 8/24/10, 2:24 pm


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