Q: Should I plea not guilty
So my granny was on the phone with my sister and I started to argue with my granny. My sister on the phone in anouther county hangs up and calls the police to our house. I get arrested for fva simple battery for taking the phone from granny and throwing it and criminal fva criminal trespassing for kicking the door. I have some kinda court tomorrow. Neither me or the victim granny want probation or anything to come of this. Can it be dismissed you think? Should I plea not guilty?
A:
You stand a very high chance at a successful resolution as long as you handle the situation properly. As DV cases are treated aggressively by most jurisdictions, they dont get "dismissed" very often without some back and forth between you and the State. It may be very reasonable to try and talk to the State yourself, however the more responsible and conservative route would be to have your lawyer do all the negotiations because the state agents you will be dealing with do NOT owe you any kind of duties to assist or protect your rights, and if you make a mistake that is going to add time and problems to your life. At a bare minimum I advise calling some local lawyers and getting some consults, even if you have to pay for them, as you can ask the local practitioners if the jurisdiction has standardized programs to address these very common cases where the victim does not want to proceed.
Lastly, if you have a prior DV, you will ABSOLUTELY want to have a lawyer as that is a very important factor for the state in evaluating your matter, and it gets really bad really quick if you dont get ahead of that issue.
Best of luck!
Josh
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