Domestic Assault Attorney in Prince William County, Virginia
What does the law in Virginia say regarding domestic violence and how it is handled by the courts?
What does the law in Virginia say regarding domestic violence and how it is handled by the courts?
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the first thing that I think that people
need to understand is that there’s a law
in Virginia and many other states that
says if the police are called to a home
to just break up a fight or settle a
dispute or whatever and this happens a
lot while the people are there and while
the police are there if they develop
probable cause that any kind of assault
has occurred then the person who
committed that assault is getting arest
Ed and there is no discretion on the
part of the police as to whether to make
that happen this comes up very often in
cases where one spouse is drunk and has
been asked to leave the home and has
refused to do so and the police are
called to you know get that person out
of there and then while the police are
there they learn that you know maybe the
drunk spouse grabbed a phone out of the
other spouse’s hand or you know threw
something at them well that’s an assault
and if that happens and that person is
leaving in handcuffs they’re getting
arrested and they are getting charged
with domestic assault even though that’s
not what the offended spouse wants to
happen so they can and will charge even
if the alleged victim or complaining
witness in a case doesn’t want that to
happen we find that often in in cases
that we get here where police were
called nobody wanted anybody to get
arrested but the police had no choice
but to arrest them um fortunately once
we’re able to get to court with cases
like that most of the time if the
assault is not particularly egregious
you know sort of on a lower scale of
things the prosecutor will will sort of
see what’s going on and you know perhaps
with some anger management or substance
abuse counseling or something along
those lines the they’ll be willing to uh
you know reduce the charge and
eventually allow it to go away uh with a
deferred disposition as long as
everybody stays on good behavior
Contact Steven L. Duckett, Jr.
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Manassas, VA criminal defense attorney Steve Duckett talks about what the law in Virginia says regarding domestic violence and how it is handled by the courts.
