Q: My boyfriend was arrested for domestic violence and I am not filing charges but the state is. He did not hit me.
We argued and police came after he left and my face was red from crying they said he did it and wouldn't listen to me at all. Now there's a no contact order. We are homeless and he is my saftey at night he makes sure I eat and makes sure we have a place to sleep. They arrested him without reading his rights and didn't tell him why he was being arrested. I need to know what I can do to stop this. He NEVER hit me the only ones hurting me is them. Now I have to be alone at night I haven't slept or ate much since they did this. Please any info would be helpful I can't seam to contact the correct people for free legal help any suggestions about how I can make this go away
A: The bottom line is you cannot make this go away, only the District Attorney or the Judge can. It maybe that the D.A. will not pursue the case, particularly if you do not cooperate, but it is up to them. You can talk with your boyfriend's attorney to see if you can help with his defense but again, in the end, how to best defend him is not your call. Do understand that it is common for domestic violence victims to not cooperate with any prosecution and to want the restraining order dropped so they can get back together with the abuser. So regardless of the true facts in your specific case, you should anticipate that all concerned - your boyfriend's attorney, the District Attorney, the Judge, and the Police - are likely to be very skeptical of your assertions and to substantially discount your credibility. You should anticipate it.
A: Your boyfriend will likely get a court appointed attorney. Once he has an Attorney you can offer to testify that he didn't hit you. If they can't prove he hurt you this may get dismissed. If this is the first ever charge of this nature he may be able to do a plea bargain where he goes into diversion and takes anger management classes although that will mean he has to pay for the classes. But you need to be very careful and honest with yourself. You may have strong feelings of love for him but 1 in 25 women in an abusive relationship end up dead. You might want to find out what other resource there are that could help you find food and shelter.
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