Articles Posted in Domestic Violence

Domestic violence means different things to different people. A lot of people think of it as a situation where one person in the relationship beats up the other person, like the Ray Rice incident. However, the majority of cases prosecuted are much less violent and involve either a slap or a push or grabbing somebody against their will. I have seen an increase in the number of prosecutions, although I don’t think there is really an increase in the number of actual domestic violence cases. It used to be that if someone called the police for domestic violence, the cops...

Even if someone was sober or under the legal alcohol limit and refused a breathalyzer test request from a police officer, the implied consent can cost them their license for one year and adds 6 points to a driver’s license. There is a distinction between the official breath test and one sometimes done on the side of the road, the Preliminary Breath Test. If someone refuses to take that test, it results in a minor civil infraction with 0 points. It is very important for people who are facing an implied consent violation to know they must request an appeal...

Interviewer: What are no-contact orders or a protection order or a restraining order? How do they work? Paul Tafelski: A judge will just order you the conditional bond to have to contact with the complaining witness or any other witnesses. It’s really fairly difficult for the prosecutor or the court to enforce that, but if they do find out about a violation they will often revoke the bond or give the person some time in jail. There are significant consequences, but basically it’s just a court order. They tell you that you cannot have contact in any way, which means...

Interviewer: Could a police officer question a child without the consent of the parent? Paul Tafelski: Typically, when the police are doing those interviews, you’re going to see the complaining witness, meaning, let’s say, the mother (that’s just more common) making a statement and then giving permission for the child to make a statement. You don’t usually see people who call the police being reluctant to give the police statements at that time because they’re in the heat of the moment and they usually do cooperate. Usually, when it comes to interviewing juveniles and questioning juveniles, the police need to...

Interviewer: What kind of plea agreements are typically going to be offered by the prosecution? Paul Tafelski: Depends on, each court is a little bit different, each prosecutor is a little bit different but we’ve been able in many cases of first offence situations to negotiate plea deals where if the client successfully completed a period of probation with some anger management they could avoid having a conviction on their record. That’s the most important thing, to come out of this with is no conviction because it doesn’t look too good on employers to see domestic violence convictions. They get...

The biggest one is that it involves very serious physical confrontations, where someone is getting beat up or punched or severely abused. In reality, the vast majority of the cases involve relatively minor skirmishes, where one person calls the police and usually the person who calls doesn’t even want the other person arrested, they just want the police to make them go away for a while. The police don’t do that anymore, so then somebody gets arrested and that opens up a whole new can of worms for the people and their families and everything else. What Are Some Unintentional...

Interviewer: How long is the typical case? How long do they last? Paul Tafelski: It really varies, but usually for a misdemeanor typical first offense domestic violence case, from the time the incident happens until the time the case is over, it’s usually maybe about eight weeks. If the case is going to end up having to go to trial or has some evidentiary issues and things like that, you’re usually talking maybe twice that time – three or four months, something like that. It all depends upon the court, how busy they are, how busy their docket is, how...

Interviewer: I’m pretty sure you’ve seen social media come into play as well, like Facebook and things like that? Paul Tafelski: Yes, we’ve had cases where we’ve used Facebook postings in our cases to help prove that the person was lying or help prove how one minute they’re acting like a victim and the next minute they’re having a huge party and acting all tough and flashing, getting drunk and putting it on Facebook, so there’s a lot of opportunity to help your case through social media. Self-Representation is Not A Viable Option in a Domestic Violence Case Interviewer: In...

Interviewer: How are some ways that you help remove that emotional aspect? What are the things you may tell them? What are the things that you may remind them of to help people? Paul Tafelski: Every situation is different. For example, sometimes rushing these cases through is not what’s best because emotions can be raw and sometimes it might take a week or two for people to just settle down and let the dust settle and realize what they really want to do and if they’re making emotional decisions they are often more aggressive or sometimes exaggerated decisions. Like, ‘oh,...

Interviewer: What’s the most common type of assault situation or scenario that you usually come across? Paul Tafelski: I would say the most common scenario is, parties, usually a man and a woman, they’re in some kind of domestic relationship, husband wife, or boyfriend girlfriend, sometimes brother sister or a child and a parent. Somebody or both have been drinking, an argument ensues, and somebody tries to leave and the other person stops them or takes their phone or pushes them down or slaps them in the face, or shoves them down, maybe chokes them for a minute, not a...