Legal Question in Family Law in Kentucky
my 19 yr old daughter lived with her now ex-boyfriend. he assaulted her 2 weeks ago. When she tried to call police he took her cell phone and got out his pocket knife and cut himself on his thumb. After several attempts to leave, she finally got in car. She came straight to my place of employment, crying, shaking and totally terrified. I couldnt leave work until i got someone there to cover for me so i called my twin sister to go with her to emergency room until i was able to get there. In the meantime the guys mother called police and told them my daughter attacked him and stabbed him...ect. The police come to hospital and talk to my daughter, they seem to be siding with him. She got a EPO as soon as she left hospital, then once served he went and got one against her. She also went to county attorney and got assault charges on him. the day this happened he called her employer, which is working with mentally disabled clients, and told them she had stabbed him, and was gonna be indicted on charges, so she hasnt been able to work since. the family court judge issued a mutual DVO. yesterday a lady in human resources at her job called her in for a meeting, and told her she has been "made aware" that felony charges are pending on her, and she is suspended til the DVO is lifted (Feb), but if she is convicted she will be fired! She called prosecuting atty they said there are no pending charges.
What do we do now? she has never even had a traffic violation, and is scared now of losing everything, she is suspended without pay.
1 Answer from Attorneys
You've got a whole lot of problems here, covering multiple areas of law.
If there was an EPO/DVO in effect, then Boyfriend should not have been calling your daughter's place of employment. Call the county attorney. If Boyfriend has been charged with assault, and she has not, then clearly the police/county attorney have viewed her as the victim, and him as the abuser. Perhaps they would be willing to issue a statement to her employer that they are prosecuting him for assault, and not her. They could also explain that the DVO is not an indication of guilt of assault or anything else; you don't have the right to have an attorney appointed in a domestic violence hearing, and some judges tend to play pretty fast and loose with the rules of evidence. It is also not based on a finding of "beyond a reasonable doubt," but the standard is a "preponderance of the evidence." Just him saying "she attacked me and cut me" was enough for the judge to issue the DVO. The DVO only being in effect until February instead of a standard 2-3 year issuance is a pretty good indication that the matter was not believed by the judge in the entirety.
You really need to get an attorney IMMEDIATELY to assist you through these legal processes, particularly in handling damage control, such as the employment issue. Contact your local bar association for available pro bono and reduced fee services. This guy shouldn't be allowed to ruin your daughter's life and her livelihood with slander.
Also, find a counselor experienced in domestic violence to help your daughter through this. You don't want her to ever go through this again. Start here: http://www.kdva.org/
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