Legal Question in Criminal Law in Wisconsin

Dropping of Assault or Battery Charges by Victim

In WI criminal courts, victims do not have the power to simply "drop" a criminal charge once the matter has gone to court. Since the state is the only party who can sue criminally, only the state can voluntarily dismiss their charges. Even when the state makes such a request, the dismissal must be approved by the judge, who is supposed to make sure that dismissal is in the public interest. All this being said, so long as the authorities are convinced that the victim is not being coerced into requesting to drop the charges, they will usually consider the victim's wishes. The decision whether they follow those wishes often depends upon how dangerous they believe the defendant to be--they are more likely to proceed without regard to the victim's wishes if there is concern that the defendant may re-offend. Uncooperative victims can also cause proof problems for the authorities at trial, although victims who later recant their complaints and/or change their testimony are tacitly admitting that they originally lied to the arresting officers in making the accusations which lead to the charge. Such a scenario can sometimes leads to the victim being charged either with obstructing an officer or perjury. Victims who fail to appear in court when subpoenaed can also be arrested and held as material witnesses pending trial. I would certainly suggest that both the defendant and the victim have their own attorneys in any situation like this, since there would probably be a conflict of interest between the defendant and the victim.