In all cases, the affidavit must be signed by the victim and certified by a notary before being included in the file. If the circumstances warrant the dismissal of the case, the victim`s lawyer may prepare a more complete affidavit of non-prosecution beyond the general wording of the form that an attorney may provide. The victim`s lawyer is also better able to negotiate with the prosecutor and defence counsel on how to decide the case. If you are charged with domestic violence in Texas, one way to help your case is to make an affidavit of non-prosecution. An affidavit of non-prosecution is a written statement by the alleged victim in a domestic violence case in which the prosecutor is asked to close the case. The purpose of the affidavit is to convince the prosecutor to dismiss the case. There is no fixed form or format of a non-suede affidavit in Texas. A prosecutor may have a general form that expresses only a victim`s wish that a case be closed or his or her intention not to testify against the accused party to the trial. A generic form rarely convinces a prosecutor to drop a case, especially if they have other admissible evidence to convict the accused (p.B medical records, 911 call recordings, other testimony, etc.). In some circumstances, family members or witnesses may have a desire to retract or change their testimony, especially if arrest officers exaggerated the details or distorted the events leading up to the domestic violence charges.
Domestic violence lawyer Andrew Peveto has helped family members and others prepare non-prosecution affidavits to alert prosecutors that the evidence in their case is not as strong as they expect. We caution victims of domestic violence and other family members to review their actions very carefully before filing an affidavit of non-prosecution in Texas. But if an affidavit is appropriate, we will help clients prepare and file an affidavit that will protect them and the accused party as much as possible. As a criminal defense attorney based in Collin County, I used non-prosecution affidavits to get justice for community members throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. These affidavits can be used to combat any criminal complaint involving a complainant witness, but domestic violence advocates like me primarily use them to combat domestic violence cases in Texas. If you`ve been accused of violating a Texas domestic violence law, call me at 469-626-5390 for a free consultation. I will be happy to guide you through the process of navigating the criminal justice system in Dallas, Collin or Denton County, and I will help you provide forms for non-prosecution affidavits and information on how to write them. Texas criminal defense attorney Adam Capetillo has helped witnesses in assault cases prepare affidavits on non-prosecution. The filing of an accurate and timely affidavit of non-prosecution is essential to protect eyewitnesses as well as the defendant charged with assault charges. Knowing when and how to file a mandatory non-prosecution affidavit requires the legal expertise of a highly rated criminal defense attorney. I was ready to see it. I spoke at length to the panel about why women stay with violent men, why victims dismiss, and why it is so important for the state to prosecute even if the victim does not want to lay charges (again in Vandeheys and Wilbanks` articles in this newspaper).
We had four victims of domestic violence on the podium, who of course were beaten for a good cause or by the defense, but not before they spread their opinion and told others why they had not left their abusive relationships immediately. They also said their lives would have changed sooner if the state had intervened. Wow – I couldn`t have written a better script! When the voir dire was over, I knew these jurors wouldn`t blame me if I had continued, even if the victim didn`t want it. The real reason prosecutors ignore non-prosecution affidavits is irrelevant. It`s important to know when it`s still a good idea to give an affidavit, how to write it, and what to work on instead. Most of the non-prosecution affidavits that defense lawyers use are forms that simply ask the prosecutor to dismiss the case at the victim`s request. If the prosecutor ignores this affidavit (he will), he can do no other purpose because he does not show that the defendant is actually innocent. I recently took over a case where another defense lawyer`s affidavit on non-prosecution actually confirmed what was in the police report, which showed that the accused was guilty, and helped the prosecutor take another step toward conviction. In a final attempt to protect them from the entire trial, I decided to make an offer to the accused that he could not refuse. I offered her two months in prison because I knew he would serve at least 30 days – a lot of time for her to get her stuff back and move on. The defense lawyer thought it was a great offer based on the defendant`s criminal past and the amount of evidence I had in my case. Of course, the defendant, who is usually him, declined the offer.
And long before I spoke to the victim, he had turned down a deferred offer. (You may be wondering why he received a deferred offer in the first place, so I`d like to say here as an aside that if I get a non-domestic violence abuser on file to advocate for a delayed attack on domestic violence in a case where the victim doesn`t want to be prosecuted, I consider it a success – because I`m going to hand over his neighbor to the dae`s office with my personal recommendation.) If you have any questions about affidavits, if you are wondering if it is appropriate for your case or if you are charged with a domestic violence case, call or click below to schedule a free consultation. That`s why it`s so important to hire a proven domestic violence lawyer to fight for your rights and preserve your reputation for the future. The law firm J. Barrett Wilson had handled hundreds of domestic violence cases in Collin County, Denton County and throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Call now for a free consultation. I will call the victim Kimberly. When I read the crime report, I realized that she had been attacked by her boyfriend. Kimberly called 911 that night and told the dispatcher what had happened, she made enthusiastic remarks to two police officers, she told a paramedic what had happened, she went to the hospital for treatment, and the officer took pictures of her injuries.
In fact, I was encouraged because I knew when I saw Kimberly`s non-prosecution affidavit in the stack of documents that I didn`t necessarily need her testimony to prove this case to a jury. I even started trying the case in my head at my office: I was able to enter the 911 call as a business case and an excited statement; I was able to enter the prison records (to show how great this guy was in relation to the victim) as business records, their statements to officers as excited statements, paramedic and hospital records as business records with a hearsay medical treatment exception, and photos of their injuries.. .