Q: Criminal mischief charges with domestic violence when I did no damage
Girl friends license suspended on jountly owner car and I pulled the plug wires off to disable it.
I got charged with DV citing criminal mischief for damaging the property of another. Pulling the wires off does not damage the car and she was going too drive it illegaly. I am
Responsible for half of it and insurance would be void if she wrecked. How can they justify this charge.
A:
Based solely on how you describe it here, and if there was no damage, then this sounds more like tampering than criminal mischief. However, tampering is still a crime and they can charge it as DV.
Even a minor DV charge can have devastating effects on your life. You should hire an attorney or get the public defender to help you with this case.
A: Whether pulling the plug wires off would constitute damage to the car is an open question. It may be that the police believe the wires were damaged. As to joint ownership, so long as she was part owner, a charge of criminal mischief, or as Mr. Joyner noted, criminal tampering can be brought.
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