Legal Question in Criminal Law in Missouri

Re: Counter sueing

There are two kinds of cases in courts, "criminal" and "civil." When you sue someone for money, it's a "civil" lawsuit. You're currently charged in a criminal case, where no claims for money are involved, so you can't "countersue" them in a criminal lawsuit. You could win the criminal suit after trial, and then try to sue her for (i) slander (making false oral statements about you), and/or (ii) libel (making false written statements about you). But most important, if you can really PROVE that she made it all up, you could file a civil lawsuit against her for "malicious prosecution." If your evidence is really that strong and its clear that she lied and made the whole thing up, the prosecutor who prosecutes you may actually turn around and filed perjury charges against her after your trial is over, and you should ask the prosecutor to do so after your victory.

If you really plan on doing this, you should be prepared to take the criminal case against you through trial, and you should definitely be represented by a competent criminal attorney who is aware that you want to set up a civil suit!! If the criminal attorney is not aware of this, he or she might get a great result for you (from a criminal-case point of view) which inadvertently destroys your ability to file a civil suit afterwards.

Additionally, you should be aware that most attorneys would NOT take a case like this unless all of the evidence is crystal clear and in your favor, AND she's got assets to proceed against. Malicious prosecution is an intentional tort, which means that in general her insurance policies will NOT pay you. You will need to get your judgment paid from having the sheriff take her personal assets, which is typically more difficult than it sounds.

Good luck.