Assault & Aggravated Assault Charges

Rockwall and Dallas Defense Attorney

As a former Dallas County Family Violence Prosecutor and AV Rated, Board Certified Criminal Law Specialist, I am uniquely qualified to defend your domestic violence case. Over nearly 2 decades, I have tried over 150 jury trials and prosecuted and defended hundreds of domestic violence cases in Rockwall, Collin, Dallas, Kaufman, Hunt, and Denton Counties.

In my family violence defense work, I have achieved countless no bills, rejections, dismissals, and acquittals in these types of cases but you cannot purchase an outcome. You can only decide who’s going to go to bat for you. There is no magic formula that makes a case go away – some cases won’t go away. You need a lawyer who understands how to maximize your position at every point in time during the case. Some cases go quickly and easily – others drag on.

If the police come to your home because of a domestic disturbance, someone is going to jail. If you are reading this page, that person ended up being you, but that doesn’t mean its right. Police make many arrests to protect themselves from liability, but that does not mean you need to be convicted of domestic violence.

If you are injured, PHOTOGRAPH YOUR INJURIES NOW and seek medical treatment if necessary and contact me to start building your defense. Save your text messages and emails!

The Protective Order

The alleged victim in your case will likely get a Temporary Protective Order (TPO). Do not violate this order, even if it is wrong or unfair. Cooperate with law enforcement in allowing service. Be the good guy and focus on winning the war. The initial TPO will expire within a set stated time period and can be replace by a Protective Order for up to 2 years. There will be a hearing set within 14 days of the filing of an Application for a Protective Order. A violation of protective order or temporary protective order is itself a class A misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in the county jail and a fine not to exceed $4,000. You also need to review your conditions of bond in detail. Failure to do so could land you back in jail.

Defending Domestic Violence Cases

Domestic violence allegations are sometimes baseless lies incident to marriages headed towards divorce or child custody battles. At other times, both parties are equally blameworthy. Many counties have grant-funded domestic violence divisions with specially trained prosecutors, investigators, and victim advocates. These folks mean well, but many become “true believers” who assume that you are guilty. They often must be made to see the light through your acquittal at a jury trial.

In many cases the victim or reporting person has a change of heart, but learns only too late that the government can prosecute over his or her objection – even after filing an affidavit of non-prosecution. These individuals don’t understand that the prosecutor is more concerned about why you want to drop charges than the mere fact that you do. My job is to investigate the history of the relationship, the specific details of the incident, and characteristics of the parties. In some cases, one or more of these factors can result in a case been dropped or the punishment being drastically reduced, especially when combined with a victim who does not want to case to go forward. There is not a formula that can be duplicated – it takes my skill set to identify all possible defenses and ways to improve your situation.

Assault family violence, Aggravated Assault family violence, Harassment, Stalking, Violation of a Protective Order, and Assault Family Violence Enhanced to Felony (due to previous conviction) are part of an ever growing family of domestic violence crimes. A determined accuser can create a complex web that can be difficult or impossible from which to extract yourself. Again, my experience prosecuting AND defending every one of these crimes benefits my clients. Crafting a defense to a complex situation can only come with the level of knowledge and experience that I possess – and most importantly, from doing it successfully time and again.

Continuous family violence and assault impeding charges are the newest crimes in this area. They have immediately become a sure-fire way to escalate the most ridiculous situations into serious felonies and to threaten everything that matters to my clients. Part of being Board Certified in Criminal Law, is my in-depth knowledge of the law of self-defense and the complicated and specific rules of character evidence which come into play in almost every one of these cases. The courtroom is not a mud slinging competition – most bad character evidence is not admissible in court unless a firmly rooted exception comes into play. Very few lawyers have my depth of knowledge in these areas – to get the evidence that actually matters before the jury.

Even if you are guilty, punishments (even probations) recommended by the Government can be excessive with lifetime implications. I always explore every option to reduce or eliminate any loss of freedom. Pre-trial diversions, conditional dismissals, batterer’s intervention, anger management, alcohol and drug treatment, or a plea to a lesser charge (like Class C Assault-Offensive Contact, or Disorderly Contact) are all possibilities in domestic violence cases.

In some cases, nothing but a complete dismissal of charges or an acquittal/verdict of Not Guilty would be an acceptable outcome.

Cleaning up Your Record

The final piece of the equation is my expertise in the ability to get cases off your record. For any possible outcome that could happen in the courtroom, I would be able to tell you if and when we could get the case off your record. This cannot be accomplished in every case, but, ideally, at the end of the case we are making plans to expunge the arrest related to your domestic violence case.

Call me now to begin your defense and help you through this tough time.