Tampa Criminal Defense Attorneys - (813) 228-7095
Domestic Violence
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Editor: Will Hanlon & Charlie Lambert
Profession: Tampa Defense Attorneys
Tampa Domestic Violence Case Dismissed
Category: Domestic Violence
State v. B.; Date: August 2, 2007
FACTS: The wife of our client had been unfaithful and ultimately told her husband about the affair. As you would expect an argument ensued and the client ended up pushing his wife. The victim received no real injuries.
DEFENSE: After investigation into the case it appeared that this was a "mutual combat" situation where the wife and the husband (client) began pushing each other almost simultaneously.
RESULT: The State terminated the prosecution of the case.
Tampa Domestic Violence Case Dismissed
Category: Domestic Violence
State v. S; Judge: Nick Nazaretian; Date: July 31, 2007
FACTS: The client got into a verbal argument with her husband over finances. Apparently, her husband went downstairs to avoid the argument, but his wife followed him and began hitting him in the face and chest area. The client then grabbed a knife and started slashing at her husband with it. The husband stated that his wife then tried to throw a pot of boiling water on him. Police arrived on scene and arrested our client (the wife), after speaking to her husband's brother about the incident.
DEFENSE: After investigating the victim's allegations it appeared that much of his story was exaggerated and contrived. He ultimately admitted that the contact between the two of them was accidental and unintentional.
RESULT: The State Dismissed the charge
Pinellas County Domestic Violence Case Dropped
Category: Domestic Violence
State v. R; Pinellas County
Allegations of domestic violence are very common during divorce proceedings. Many times false allegations are used as leverage in negotiations regarding property division, alimony and child custody.
FACTS: Our client was a succesful consultant at a leading financial corporation. At the time of the incident, he and his wife had been experiencing marital difficulties, and were contemplating divorce. One evening, they had an argument over a past relationship. At some point the argument became physical. Our client allegedley placed his hand over his wife's mouth. She responded by punching and kicking him. Eventually, both parties calmed down and reconciled. No charges were immediately filed.
Over seven months later, our client became aware of an ongoing investigation into this incident by Pinellas County law enforcement. At some point after the incident, the victim had filed a dleayed domestic violence report. Despite the fact that the report was delayed, law enforcement was obligated to investigate the case and file charges if necessary.
In an investigation involving a delayed report, often times there is little or no physical evidence. Law enforcement is forced to rely exclusivley or eye witness accounts of the events. These types of situations can be extremely dangerous, particularly when law enforcement is only hearing one side of the story.
Fortunately, our client contacted our us immediately upon hearing about the pending investigation. We were then able to contact the State Attorney's office during the "pre-filing" stage of the case, and present our client's side of the story. We were also able to make the Assistant State Attorney aware of potential evidentiary issues in his case before the charges were ever formally filed.
RESULT: Ultimately, we were able to convince the State not to file charges against our client. By contacting our office right away, our client was able to avoid being arrested and and formally charged in criminal court.
Pinellas County Defendant Avoids Domestic Battery Prosecution
Category: Domestic Violence
State v. R; Date: May 9, 2007; Pinellas County
FACTS: Our client was alleged to have covered his wife's mouth during an argument. Shortly after he grabbed her, they both went to the ground, where a struggle ensued. The victim in this case called police months after the incident occurred because she felt her husband had lied to her about another woman.
Many times a spouse will decide they want to divorce their husband or wife and contact a divorce (family law) lawyer without telling the other party. During the initial interview the divorce lawyer will often inquire about instances of domestic violence during the marriage. Even where there is little to no justification, some divorce lawyers will often recommend that a victim contact the police and have a charge filed against their spouse in an effort to gain an advantage in the divorce proceedings. If they do they will typically also recomend that the wife apply for an injunction (preventing any contact).
Many x-husbands find themselves sitting in jail months after a domestic dispute has come and gone. After being released they find out that they cannot return home because there is an injunction in place preventing contact with their wife. If a defendant contacts a victim after an injunction is in place it could create an additional criminal charge. This is obviously a very frustrating turn of events that make it critical to hire a lawyer as soon as possible. The above scenario did not materialize in this case because of some steps we took to communicate with the victim.
DEFENSE: All contact with the victim was the result of the client trying to defend himself.
RESULT: The State Attorney decided not to pursue the prosecution, and the charge was dismissed.
Tampa Battery Charge Dismissed
Category: Criminal Law
State v. D; Judge: John Conrad; Date: May 10, 2007
FACTS: The client's daughter was approached by a young man who made a number of sexual inuendos during a conversation they had at work. Weeks later her father (client) visited her at work, and while they discussed the incident, the young man happened to walk nearby. The father was so angered by what happened he went outside and confronted the victim. Our client pushed the victim in the chest and then grabbed him by the throat.
DEFENSE: The remarks made to by the victim to our client's daughter were uncalled for and highly offensive on every level. The case was set for trial, and negotiations with the State followed.
RESULT: The State Dismissed the case.
Pinellas County Defendant Avoids Sexual Battery Charge
Category: Criminal Law
State v. R; Judge: R. Timothy Peters; Date: April 3, 2007
FACTS: The client was charged with Handling and Fondling a Female Child Under the Age of Sixteen (2nd degree felony). The defendant had allegedly molested his children and grandchildren in 1992. The victim of the offense had a falling out with our client shortly before he was arrested out of state and extradited to Florida. The age of the charge made it problematic for the State Attorney to move forward on the Fondling charge. As a result, We made the State Attorney aware that we were filing a motion to dismiss the Fondling charge due to a violation of the Statute of Limitations. In response, the State claimed they would amend the charge to Sexual Battery (1st degree felony), in order to avoid the statute of limitations problem.
DEFENSE: The State could have moved forward on the Sexual Battery charge, but there were some serious issues as to the credibility of the victim. These credibility problems led to negotiations with the State.
RESULT: The client did no jail time. He entered a plea to a probationery sentence on a much less serious charge, which carried no sex offender designation.
Defendant Avoids 3 Year Mandatory Minimum Sentence after Shooting
Category: Criminal Law
CASE #05-CF-018725; Judge: Robert Foster; Date: February 1, 2007
FACTS: The State Attorney filed three charges of Aggravated Assault with Firearm (discharge) against the client. This charge carries a 3 year mandatory minimum sentence in Florida State Prison if convicted. The three victims leased a small home from the defendant. After the victims failed to pay rent on numerous occasions the client went to the home to determine why they refused to pay. According to the victims the client was intoxicated and got into an argument with the mother of one of the victims. Before he left someone called the victims who were driving home. When the victims arrived on scene they began to argue with the defendant. The argument led to a number of threats by the victims. According to the victims the defendant pulled out a pistol and fired into the crowd that had gathered. After the defendant left the police were called and reported to the scene. Their investigation led to the defendant's arrest on the above charges.
DEFENSE: Thorough investigation of these types of charges is critical! At first glance the client's case appeared extremely difficult. The victims were surrounded by numerous people who claimed he fired his weapon right at them. The defendant's story differed from the victims in a number of ways. He admitted he fired his weapon, but not at the crowd of people, and not until he left the area. He claimed he only fired the weapon after the victims retrieved their own firearm and discharged it. Through investigation we located two witnesses who lived nearby and heard shots fired that night. Shortly after hearing the shots they saw one of the victims walk by, and claim that he was "going to jump the shooter, but he pulled out a gun". In addition, we learned from another witness that the crowd was preparing to attack our client.
RESULT: The State does not like to drop charges this serious without a very good reason. Ultimately, we were able to convince the State that its witnesses had no credibility after the discovery of these neutral witnesses.
Two of the three charges were dropped (dismissed) altogether, and the third charge was reduced to disorderly conduct. The client received a withhold of adjudication (withhold of the conviction) and court costs on
a misdemeanor charge.
Tampa Criminal Attorney Gets Domestic Violence Charge Dismissed
Category: Domestic Violence
CASE # 06-CM-024034; Judge: Nick Nazaretian; Date: February 13, 2007
FACTS: The defendant was accused of grabbing his wife by the neck and throat after an argument in their home. According to the victim, he squeezed her neck so hard he was able to lift her off the ground. There were photographs taken of the victim's injuries.
DEFENSE: The victim was the aggressor and the defendant only grabbed her to avoid further violence.
RESULT: This case was resolved before trial after interviewing the victim. Our investigation led to a change in the victim's story and a dismissal of the charge.
Sports Linked to Rise In Domestic Violence
Category: Domestic Violence
Mark Godsey over at the CrimProf blog brought my attention to an article from azcentral.com that links athletes with increased instances of domestic violence. However, fans seem less likely to mind when the violence involves one of their favorite athletes:
Continue reading "Sports Linked to Rise In Domestic Violence"
Tampa Criminal Lawyer Gets Violation of Domestic Injunction Charge Dismissed
Category: Domestic Violence
Case #06-CM-026335; Judge Nick Nazaretian; Date: December 22, 2006
FACTS: The client had an injunction for protection against domestic violence with minor children entered against him on August 8, 2006. The petitioner had a child with our client, and was very intent on gaining custody. Apparently, even after the injunction was filed the petitioner continued to contact our client indirectly through some of his friends. Strangely enough the victim ended up claiming the defendant (client) had contacted her through someone elses "my space" account.
According to the victim she responded to a friend of our client's by sending her a message on her "my space" profile. At some point she went back to this person's profile and saw a message she believed was addressed to her from our client. The victim called the police and our client was charged with contacting the victim and violating the injunction. The defendant felt his x-girlfriend was simply using this criminal charge to convince the family court judge to award her custody of their child.
The Courts are often used by people for the wrong reasons. Many petitioners will get an injunction against their boyfriend or wife, and use it as a tool to achieve some goal in front of the family court judge who is presiding over a divorce or custody dispute. Unfortunately, both men and woman are equally guilty in this regard. No one seems to realize that the children are the only ones that suffer when the Courts are abused in this manner.
DEFENSE: There was no proof that the defendant had intentionally contacted the victim. The victim apparently found this message on someone elses "my space" account, not her own. Discussions with the State Attorney brought about a quick resolution to this case.
RESULT: The charge of violating the Domestic Violence Injunction was dismissed.
Tampa Criminal Attorney Gets Domestic Battery Win
Category: Domestic Violence
CASE #05-CM-015481; JUDGE: Nick Nazaretian; Date: November 21, 2006
FACTS: The defendant and his wife had a verbal argument outside his home. The victim claimed that our client hit her in the face with a piece of pizza, grabbed her by the throat, and body slammed her to the ground. Shortly after she caught her breath the neighbors helped her into their house. Instead of remianing at her neighbor's she got even more intoxicated and returned to our client's home. The same man she claimed she had thrown her to the ground. She found herself locked out of the home, and when she finally got inside she continued to verbally attack our client. The victim stood in the doorway of the bathroom and refused to allow her husband out. He eventually grabbed her and removed her from the doorway. The victim claimed that our client dragged her around the house by her hair, and bashed her head into the wall in the hallway.
DEFENSE: The only time my client laid his hands on the victim is when she came at him and he was forced to protect himself. In addition, the vicitm drank atleast six drinks contaning alcohol that night which called her credibility into question.
RESULT: The Judge found our client NOT GUILTY of the crime of domestic battery.
Tampa Criminal Lawyer Gets Domestic Violence Injunction and Domestic Battery Charge Dismissed
Category: Domestic Violence
CASE #06-CM-023289; 06-DR-017814 & 06-DR-017444; JUDGE: Art Mcneil; Date: October 16, 2006
FACTS: The client was forced to protect himself when his wife came at him in their home. The wife was very intoxicated during the incident, and forced the client to defend himself. Eventually the suspect gathered his clothes so he could leave the home, but before he could finish packing the wife came back into the room and punched him in the face. The client documented his injuries by having photographs taken at the hospital. Unfortunately, he failed to retain any counsel and attempted to address the custody issues surrounding his son in his own way. The wife felt so threatened that she called the police and the client was arrested days later for domestic battery. Shortly after that she retained a lawyer and filed a petition for a domestic violence injunction against our client. After the client retained our office we filed our own petition for an injunction against the wife, and began defending his criminal charge.
Unfortunately, many people file criminal charges against their husband or wife in an attempt to gain an advantage in their divorce proceedings. The hope is that the person charged with the crime will be convicted and the family law judge will give custody of the children to the non-offending party. After the wife received our injunction her attorney called our office and we negotiated a settlement of the domestic violence injunctions and the criminal charge.
DEFENSE: The client was acting in self-defense when he threw the phone at his wife. The wife had a drinking problem and caused some noticeable injuries to the client during the struggle.
RESULT: The domestic violence injunctions were both dismissed and the State Attorney no filed the battery charge.
Tampa Defense Attorney Prosecutes Respondent for Violating Injunction
Category: Criminal Law
CASE # H-27-DR-2006-309; JUDGE: Stephen O. Rushing (Hernando County) Date: October 23, 2006
FACTS: Our Client had been in ongoing dispute with a nearby neighbor. The client became so threatened by his neighbor that he filed a petition for an injunction to prevent his neighbor from coming within 300 feet of him or his family. The judge granted his petition, but also granted the neighbor a similar injunction against our client. The client had not hired a lawyer before filing the petition for the injunction, or the injunction hearing. This led to other problems at his hearing and other problems with his neighbor that were not properly handled. It is extremely important to retain a lawyer as soon as you anticipate the possibility of going to court for any reason!
After our client got his injunction both parties began to call the police over supposed violations of their injunctions. The first injunction led the client to request the Court to grant other injunctions against other neighbors. The neighbor, who had a background in law enforcement, gradually began to win over the police and the state attorney with regards to the actions of our client. The State Attorney became convinced that our client was the aggressor, and filed an aggravated stalking charge against him. The client didn't contact our office until after the aggravated stalking charge was filed!. Eventually the client requested a hearing to determine whether his neighbor should be found in contempt of court for violating the court's order on August 11, 2006.
Our office prosecuted the neighbor for violating the injunction and asked the Court to find him in contempt of court. During our investigation we located an independent witness that was willing to come forward and testify that the opposing neighbor and his wife got out of their vehicle and threatened our client.
RESULT: The Court agreed with us that the neighbor was guilty of violating the injunction and found him in contempt of court. This case is another terrific example of waiting too long to hire a lawyer. Although we won the hearing and it should convince the State Attorney to take a second look at the actions of the neighbor, most of our client's problems could have been avoided had he contacted us earlier. A domestic violence injunction is a serious matter and violating an injunction is even more serious. Don't wait until the situation escalates out of control before you hire an attorney.
Tampa Criminal Attorney gets Domestic Battery Win
Category: Domestic Violence
Case No: 06-CM-013167; Judge Nick Nazaretian; Date: September 26, 2006
FACTS: The defendant was alleged to have struck his girlfriend on her left arm and her left eye several times with a closed fist. Law enforcement took photographs of the victim's injuries.
DEFENSE: The victim had shoved the defendant several times before he attempted to defend himself.
RESULT: The State dropped the charges.
Tampa Criminal Lawyer Resolves Domestic Battery Charges
Category: Domestic Violence
CASE #06-CM-018218; 06-CM-017499; Judge Nick Nazaretian;
Date: August 8, 2006
FACTS: The defendant was charged with committing two batteries in a span of nine (9) days. The victim was a serious alcoholic who had been to alcohol detox shortly before the defendant was arrested. She had numerous bruises all over her body.
DEFENSE: The victim's alcoholism brought on a blood disease (ecchymoses) that caused her blood to leak into her skin whenever she fell down or bumped into an object. The victim's injuries were the result of injuries she received while intoxicated, not by the defendant.
RESULT: After depositions with the victim the State agreed to drop one battery charge in exchange for a plea of No Contest to the other charge. The State agreed to withhold the adjudication and the defendant was not convicted.
Win for Tampa Criminal Lawyer at Domestic Violence Injunction Hearing
Category: Domestic Violence
CASE #06-DR-012520; Judge Raul Palamino; Date: August 1, 2006
FACTS: We represented the Respondent. It was alleged by the Petitioner that the Respondent had choked her and her 21 year old daughter at separate times. In addition, she alleged that our client exposed himself to his 5 and 6 year old children at the pool.
DEFENSE: None of the allegations contained in the petition contained any information that was relevant to domestic violence against the petitioner. All the allegations made by the petitioner were either too remote in time to be relevant, or lacked sufficient support through the evidence.
RESULT: The petitioner's injunction was dismissed and our client prevailed.