Domestic violence charges can wreak havoc on your life. Mere allegations can disrupt your employment, damage your reputation, and lead to a no-contact order that may even impact your ability to see your children, while a conviction can create a haunting record that follows you around for years to come.
In other words, there’s a lot at stake in your domestic violence case. But even if the evidence seems stacked against you, there may be ways to beat the prosecution. If you’re diligent and aggressive in building your domestic violence criminal defense, then you might convince prosecutors that it’s best to dismiss the case.
But how do you get your domestic violence case dismissed? There are several ways to pursue this outcome. Let’s look at some of them here so that you know where you need to focus your attention to try to get your charges dropped.
Criminal defense strategies
Depending on the facts of your case, you might have several criminal defense strategies available to you when you’re facing domestic violence charges. Here are some that you might be able to utilize to get your charges dropped:
- Evidence suppression: If you can block the prosecution from presenting incriminating evidence against you, then the prosecution may have no other option than to dismiss the charges they’ve levied against you. So, if you made incriminating statements during an interrogation without being read your Miranda rights, or if evidence was seized after an illegal search, then you’ll likely be able to suppress that evidence, which could crush the prosecution’s case and lead to dismissal.
- Argue self-defense: If the alleged victim in your case was actually the aggressor, the law doesn’t expect you to sit back and take a beating. Instead, you have the legal right to defend yourself. That said, you have to demonstrate that you tried to avoid the conflict and that didn’t use more than reasonable force to defend yourself if you’re to be successful in raising a self-defense argument. So, consider the facts of your case to see if you can make this argument. If you can and your arguments are persuasive, then prosecutors may feel like they have no other choice than to dismiss the charges.
- Demonstrate lack of credibility: In most domestic violence cases, the prosecution’s case rests on statements made by the alleged victim. If you can highlight inconsistencies in those statements or their motivation to get you into trouble, then the prosecution’s case will falter, perhaps even leading to dismissal. You might be able to achieve this outcome by deposing the alleged victim so that you can pin them down on their statements. If they fail to show up for the deposition, then you might be able to exclude their testimony, which, again, will derail the prosecution’s case.
- Provide an alibi: If you can show that you were somewhere else when the alleged crime occurred, then it’ll be clear that prosecutors have charged the wrong individual. This will most likely lead to dismissal of the charges.
Be aggressive in protecting yourself against domestic violence charges
You don’t want the weight of a domestic violence conviction to fall on you. Fortunately, you can take control of your criminal case and fight to beat the prosecution. This takes foresight, knowledge of the law, and a command of the facts, but it isn’t something that you have to do on your own. Instead, you can find the support that you need to get through this challenging time, which will hopefully lead to the favorable outcome that you want.