Many people wonder what domestic violence actually is and what they should do about it.  The basis of domestic violence lies in behaviors used by one person in a relationship to control the other.  Domestic violence can include things from withholding money and keeping you from contacting family members to threatened or actual physical harm.

The penalties for such a charge, if convicted are:

- Up to 6 months in jail for a first misdemeanor offense

- A felony offense could mean 5 years to life in the Utah State Prison

- Fine of up to $10,000 plus an 85% surcharge, bringing to total fine up to $18,500 for a felony assault

- Assessments and anger management classes, domestic violence classes, and other therapy

- Possible child custody implications

Unfortunately some people accuse others of domestic violence or abuse for unjust or selfish reasons.  How can you over rule or beat such a charge?  There are many tactics, but to name a few, it must be established that the accuser has a history of untruthfulness.  You can expose the accuser’s motive to lie about you. Expose a bias in one of the prosecution’s eyewitnesses.  Expose inconsistent statements of the alleged victims or other prosecutor witnesses.  The officer may have used threats and/or coercion to get you to make incriminating statements to them.  And there are many other options that can be employed to counter a domestic violence charge.

In either case, whether you are a victim of domestic violence or you have been wrongfully accused of such you need to get in contact with a criminal defense attorney to help you get the situation under control and help you get on with your life.  Contact the best Utah criminal defense attorney at 1-888- 7- no-jail today to schedule a free consultation and find out what your options are.

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.