Sweetwater, TN asked in Criminal Law and Domestic Violence for Tennessee

Q: My boyfriend has one prior arrest for DV against me but it was dropped....

1st time he was arrested, I called the police to diffuse the situation and they ended up arresting him. I didn't show up for the court date and they dropped it. We got into another altercation, he left the house and then called the officers to do a welfare check on me, telling them that I was trying to kill myself. They came and saw the house and to make sure I was ok (I wasn't trying to commit suicide). The officers took it upon themselves to go and arrest him after seeing some marks on me. I didn't call the officers out to the house but they showed up because of his statements to them. Am I going to have to go to court? How do I get them to drop this considering I wasn't the one that initiated the call? I haven't been notified of the court date but am afraid that if I don't show, they will try to subpoena me again. Is there any way to get him out of this? I don't want to assist in anyway and I don't want him to go to jail.

1 Lawyer Answer
William Jaksa
William Jaksa
Answered
  • Criminal Law Lawyer
  • Toronto

A: Every prosecutor's office has its own specific policies when it comes to handling cases such as this.

You only need to attend court IF you are subpoenaed. Without being served a subpoena there is no legal requirement for you to attend. It's, in my opinion, bad form on the prosecution to force a victim to testify IF they don't want to. If they call simply explain that would prefer not to participate in the prosecution, BUT if subpoenaed you will attend. You need to be careful that you don't get yourself in trouble.

You might not be able to help given the facts provided in your question. Not certain exactly what police charged him with, but the officers will be the central witnesses in this case.

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