The most common misconception is that a victim is in charge of the case and can stop the case, but that is just not the way it works. The government is in control and can choose to go forward or not, and many times they will choose to continue with the case despite the victim being very vocal about trying to stop it. The defendant will often make the mistake of thinking that if they talk to their spouse and get their spouse to agree, that everything will be okay, or that somehow they will not need an attorney. This is a mistake because firstly, the victim is not in control and does not have the ability to really convince the government that the defendant did not force the situation by frightening the victim into backing away. The government is definitely concerned about punishing people for a crime they already committed and they are concerned that a new crime might be happening by forcing a victim to back away from a charge.

Will There Always Be An Arrest When Someone Has Made A Call For Domestic Violence?

The police will arrest someone if when they come, they determine there was an assault. I am not sure whether it is the law in the state of Virginia but it is definitely the rule in my county and the Northern Virginia counties. They will arrest someone, and that person will be ordered to stay away from their home for at least three days, so it is like a cool off period. They may or may not choose to pursue a more extensive restraining order which would keep a person away longer, so if someone was hurt badly, the police would actually help the victim to seek a more permanent restraining order.

What Happens When Someone Violates Restraining Orders Or No Contact Orders?

A restraining order almost always says that the person will stay away for a certain period of time and by that they don’t just mean that the person should not come around, they mean that the person will not phone or email, they will not show up at the victim’s work and they will not try to be somewhere where the other person will show up. It really means that the person needs to just get away and stay away from any kind of contact whatsoever. A person can get arrested again if they call or have someone else call to try to work things out during the number of days that the person has been told to stay away. I just finished a case where a client was arrested for an offense against his spouse, and was charged with having his mother contact his spouse to try to work things out. He was re-arrested and got an additional term of bond and had to go to trial for that second offense. We won the second offense, and it was something which we took care of, but he was definitely arrested and he had to pay an additional bond. He served a little bit of time while he was trying to be bonded out simply because he was perceived to have tried to contact his spouse through his mother.

Do You Ever Represent Women Who Are Charged As The Abuser In A Domestic Situation?

This definitely happens even though it is more common to have men as the aggressors and offenders. There are cases where women start it and I have represented women who have been charged like that. Once they are in the system they are treated exactly the same as the men. The only difference is that when the police come, the police will more often believe a woman who says that she was harmed simply because the man has a much greater ability to harm her. If that man is weakened somehow, like he is old or if sick or disabled, then a woman doing it would be considered no different at all than a man doing it.

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