Denver Felony Domestic Violence Attorney
People who are charged with a Domestic Violence offense in Colorado are usually charged with:- Third-Degree Assault
- Harassment
- False Imprisonment
- Menacing
- Violation of Restraining Order
- Criminal Mischief
Domestic Violence is not in standing alone, a criminal charge. It is a label given to one of the charges listed above when there is (or was formerly) an intimate relationship between the people involved. In other words, a person can be charged with Third-Degree Assault, or they can be charged with Third-Degree Assault / Domestic Violence. In order for the prosecutor to prove you guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of a Domestic Violence or "DV" offense, they must establish that you have, or have had, intimate relations with the "victim" in question.
If it is determined to be at Domestic Violence offense, this acts as a sentence enhancer, and will add additional terms to your probation such as 36 domestic violence classes (these are mandatory, and even the judge doesn't have the power to waive them). A conviction for a Domestic Violence offense can have far-reaching career implications, since several industries and professions will not hire those with a DV conviction on their record.
Just saying the phrase "Domestic Violence" creates an emotional response of some kind in most people, and in most jurors. Jurors watch the local and national news and hear horror stories of someone being killed by their spouse, and the phrase "Domestic Violence" is always included in the news story. However, those same jurors know that life is complex, and that it takes two people to create the situation that resulted in your criminal case. At trial, your lawyer must be able to show the jury all of the facts that the prosecutor doesn't: The facts that help you.
Even when the alleged victim steps forward and admits that he or she wasn't assaulted - he or she is then labeled a "recanting victim," and the prosecuting attorney will nonetheless try to convict you. The prosecutor may have a Domestic Violence "expert" testify at your trial and say that every victim who now says it didn't happen is lying, and that this is a predictable part of what they call "the cycle of violence," - and the victim is now lying in order to protect you, the accused, at trial.
And yet, there are more false accusations in Domestic Violence cases than there are in any type of case I see. In the heat of an angry argument - one spouse feels powerless and futile, and realizes that there is power in picking up the telephone and calling 911. A skilled criminal trial lawyer will be able to:
- Dispel the bias that jurors may have when they first walk into the courtroom – convincing them to look fairly at all of the facts.
- Reveal the motives of the false accuser to the jury, and the circumstances that created enough anger to lie in order to use the court system to gain personal control over the other.
- Dispel the myth that only men commit acts of Domestic Violence.
- Attack the faulty claim made by the "Domestic Violence Expert" that a victim that recants her story can't be trusted because it's all part of "the cycle of violence".
