Legal Question in Criminal Law in New York

Re: dropping charges

Once a criminal complaint has been filed in order to withdraw that complaint you must communicate with the District Attorney's office and inform them that you are not willing to cooperate and testify, or that you now wish to drop the charges. The prosecutor may, however, threaten you with charges for filing a false complaint, obstruction of justice or otherwise try to compel you to testify, The reason for this response is because they fear that you are being manipulated by the defendant. Ultimately, it will be up to you to either appear and testify, or not, at any grand jury proceeding, hearing or trial. Only you can control the sum and substance of your testimony. If you have a suddent lapse of memory, well, there is probably no way of preventing you, or anyone else, from having a senior moment regardless of your age. As for withdrawing a restraining order, you'll have to go to court for that and appear before the judge that issued the order. Again the court will be reluctant to let you withdraw the restraining order, if at all, because they will fear that you are being manipulated or pressured to recant the complaint(s) that led to the restraining order being issued. Mind you that the courts and procecutors will resist your efforts to backout of any criminal complaint and restraining order for fear that on a subsequent occasion you may turn up hurt or dead. The best solution, of course, is to think about these things before filing a complaint and seeking a restraining order. No one in a relationship should get physical with their mate or loved one and no loved one or their mate should challenge the other so as to provoke an uncontroled emotional or physical response. A relationship is about mutual respect. If you or your loved one cannot agree on that basic tenant then you shouldn't be together.