Domestic Violence Lawyer

What is Domestic Abuse?

Domestic abuse, like all charges of violence, range from horrific acts by repeat offenders that cause permanent damage to the victim(s) – to charges of minor scuffles between equally combative partners – to charges that are outright fabrications. Complainants and defendants are of all genders and orientations, although in most cases the complainants are female.

Possible punishments reflect the wide array of charges; upon conviction, a murder charge may result in the death penalty or life without parole, while Simple Assault charges pose a substantially lower maximum term of punishment.

Domestic Abuse related charges:

  • Aggravated assault
  • Simple assault
  • Assault & Battery
  • Reckless endangerment of another person
  • Terroristic threats
  • Stalking and related offenses
  • In rare cases, homicide

If the accusation includes illegal sexual conduct, sex offenses will be charged as well.

Why Ohio assigns Prosecutors to Domestic Abuse cases:

In many Ohio counties, these cases receive special treatment. That special treatment derives from the fact that many complainants do not wish to prosecute after charges are brought for a variety of reasons including; fear of further abuse, their desire to maintain their partner’s employment, fear of testifying about their own involvement, or fear of the repercussion of repeating a false allegation under oath.

The (DA’s) District Attorneys offices usually assign special prosecutors to these cases for the reasons outlined above. Prosecutors are not attorneys representing individual complainants-they represent the State. Therefore, they cannot advise a complainant on how to proceed when the complainant chooses not to testify to their own misconduct and their Fifth Amendment rights are implicated.

Some counties offer programs directed at resolving less serious allegations through counseling, education, treatment, stay-away orders, and supervision for a period of time prior to dropping charges (at the prosecution’s discretion). Often, it will be necessary for both the complainant and the defendant to have separate lawyers.

Skilled domestic violence defense attorney, Terry Sherman has successfully represented defendants (and complainants in many instances) against criminal charges of domestic violence.

How can we challege domestic abuse charges?

Our diligence has enabled our clients to avoid conviction by persuading prosecutors to drop all charges, offering instead mandatory enrollment in a pretrial, diversionary program (counseling, treatment, restraining orders, and court supervision) for several months.

When children/child support issues are present, complainants and defendants often have interests that are very different from the prosecutor’s. Typically both complainant and defendant want the defendant to stay employed, and maintain child support and/or health care benefits for the children. For these reasons and more it is critically important to obtain skilled, experienced counsel to represent you in such circumstances.

Ohio Domestic Violence Network

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