Legal Question in Criminal Law in Ohio

Last night my husband and I of 7 years got into a heated argument. I have been grumpy and sick all weekend, and he has been stressed and distant. Neither of us innocent, he lost it and started screaming and punched the basement door. He never layed a finger on me or the children. I called the police to come and calm down the situation as we have two young children. They did come, and although he was calm by the time he arrived (I think out of shock), he was arrested for domestic abuse. That was not my intent and I stated that to the officer. I did not write a statement. He was released later in the evening to my mom after she posted bail. I am so sick over this. We hardly ever fight, have a happy family, never do drugs or alcohol. This is sincerely a one-time-stress-caused-thing. My husband is worried now about it being on his record and I am fearful of the consequences. With it being labor day, we cannot get ahold of a lawyer until tomorrow and his pre-trial is set for Wed morn. What would be the best way of going about getting this dropped? I am begging for help for the sake of my family.


Asked on 9/05/11, 1:25 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Eric Willison Eric Eastman Willison

In Ohio, much will depend upon how the police report reads. If it reads that he put a hole in the basement door and did a lot of yelling, then I'm not sure that he has even committed a criminal act. It is only if he hit someone or tried to hit someone or it is in the police report that he did or tried to do one of those things that you might have a problem.

It sounds like his "pre-trial" will actually be his arraignment wherein he should plead "not guilty" to the charges and then get a lawyer to file a Crim. R. 16 discovery request (to see what evidence the prosecutor has). Once you have seen the evidence (or lack thereof) against him, you will be in a much better position to figure out how to proceed.

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Answered on 9/05/11, 9:22 pm


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