Sacramento Domestic Violence Attorney Arrested for domestic violence? You have options.

Two things decide most domestic violence cases

Most domestic violence cases turn on two questions, and I want the answers as early as I can get them.

What does the alleged victim want?

Some want the case prosecuted; many don’t. Some want a stay-away order, others want the person home, and some just want the person to take an anger management class. Those wishes play a huge role, and so does their account of what did or didn’t happen, especially before charges are filed. Put simply: does the alleged victim support the prosecution, or not?

Was anyone hurt, and how badly?

Without an injury, a domestic violence case is usually charged as a misdemeanor. With one, even a minor one, it can be charged as a felony under California’s corporal injury law, Penal Code 273.5. Stepping in early to get the case filed as a misdemeanor instead of a felony can be a win from the start.

The first days matter

Most domestic violence cases start with an arrest. The person is usually booked into the Main Jail downtown and held until the first court date, about two court days later, unless bail is posted. In that short window, the DA decides whether to file charges, and which ones.

That’s why I move fast. I gather information that can help, like what the alleged victim wants, witness statements, photos, and messages, and I present it to the DA the right way and at the right time. Sometimes that persuades the DA not to file charges at all, or to file a misdemeanor instead of a felony. It doesn’t work in every case, and I can’t promise it. But nothing persuades the DA if no one presents it.

If charges are already filed, the same information still helps. Released without a court date? Here’s what to do before charges are filed. If police want to talk to you, say you want a lawyer and you won’t answer any questions, then stop talking.

Calling for someone who was arrested?

Many of my domestic violence cases start with a call from someone other than the person arrested: a parent, a friend, and often the person named as the alleged victim. Sometimes the alleged victim is the one who hires me to defend their loved one. If that’s you, I’m glad you called, and I’ll talk with you. A few things you should know first:

• I represent the person who was arrested, not you. My job is to look out for their interests, even if you’re the one who called or the one paying.
• I can’t give you legal advice. For advice about your own rights and choices, you can talk to a victim advocate or a lawyer of your own.
• You don’t have to talk to me. If you do, just tell me the truth.

Your wishes can matter. Maybe you don’t want the case prosecuted, don’t want a stay-away order, or want the person home. The DA and the judge should hear that. If you want them to, I can document what you want and present it. You can also tell the DA yourself. Whether to share it at all is entirely your choice.

I will never ask you to change your account, stay away from court, or stop cooperating with police or the DA, and no one else should either. If you’re the one charged, don’t ask the other person to change their story, skip court, or stay quiet, and don’t ask anyone to do it for you. Trying to talk a victim or witness out of testifying, reporting, or cooperating with the prosecution is a separate crime, even if it doesn’t work.

With my client’s permission, I’ll keep family updated, but my client decides how much I share. What families should know after an arrest.

Stay-away orders

At the first court date, the judge or the prosecutor will often want a criminal protective order, usually called a stay-away order, even when the alleged victim doesn’t want one. A no-contact order means no calls, texts, social media, or messages through friends, and it can keep you out of your own home.

When the alleged victim doesn’t want an order, I work for no order at all, or at worst a peaceful-contact order instead of a no-contact order. A peaceful-contact order lets you have contact with the person, as long as it stays peaceful.

Even when the alleged victim does want an order, I ask for carve-outs so you can still see your children and the rest of your family. An order to stay away from one person can tangle up many others: your kids, your parents, a shared home. If an order is already in place, I can ask the judge to change it.

Until then, follow the order exactly. If it bars contact, don’t contact the protected person, even if they invite you over or reach out first. The order is on you, not on them. Breaking it can mean a new charge. While an order is in effect, you also can’t have a gun.

What the evidence shows

Many domestic violence cases are what people call “he said, she said”: two people, two accounts, and often no one else in the room. So I look hard at what else there is.

• Other witnesses. Did anyone else see or hear what happened, and what did they tell police?
• Video and recordings. Body camera video, the 911 call, doorbell or phone video. Video often shows things the police report left out.
• Marks and injuries. Are there photos? Do the marks fit the account, or not?

I also look at self-defense and at whether police did things the right way, and I go through all of it myself.

When it comes down to one person’s word against another’s

When the alleged victim wants the case prosecuted and there’s little evidence beyond their account and yours, the case comes down to credibility. I test that in three ways.

1. Internal inconsistencies. Statements that contradict each other. If both can’t be true, one is mistaken or untrue.
2. External inconsistencies. Evidence from outside the police reports that contradicts the account, like a text, a timestamp, a video, or another witness. This matters most when it contradicts the conduct you’re actually charged with.
3. General credibility. This is narrower than people expect: mainly prior convictions a court will allow, and a few other things a court may admit, like evidence of a past false report.

Clients sometimes want to prove the other person got a side detail wrong, or cheated, or lied about something else. I understand why. But disproving a detail that isn’t essential to the charge usually doesn’t help much, and most of the rest isn’t allowed in court and usually won’t matter to the DA. That’s a hard conversation I sometimes have to have.

None of this assumes anyone is lying. People remember a stressful night differently. My job is to make sure the account is tested the way the law allows.

How domestic violence cases end

There’s no single usual outcome. Charges run from a misdemeanor to a serious felony, and the result depends on the two questions above, the evidence, and your history. I can’t promise a result. These are the outcomes I work toward:

• No charges filed. When the alleged victim doesn’t want prosecution, especially for a first offense, it’s sometimes possible to keep charges from being filed, even in some cases with a minor injury. How that’s handled matters.
• Misdemeanor cases: diversion. I always look for diversion, an agreement that ends in a dismissal once you complete the terms. The kind of diversion a judge can grant over the DA’s objection isn’t available for domestic violence, so this usually takes the DA’s agreement. It can mean classes, like anger management or a batterer’s program, sometimes for up to a year. The goal is a dismissal, one way or another.
• Felony cases. Anywhere from a dismissal to prison, depending on how serious the case is and your history; a weapon makes it heavier. Getting the felony reduced to a misdemeanor is often a major goal. When the charge can be filed either way, like corporal injury, the judge can make it a misdemeanor before trial, including at the preliminary hearing.
• A different charge. Sometimes a case can be reduced to a charge that isn’t a domestic violence offense, which may lower the risk to your gun rights, though not every reduction does. And when a reduction is possible, diversion and a full dismissal are often possible instead. In Sacramento, a dismissal is the target.

When you become eligible, I typically clear your record for you at no additional charge. I don’t just wait for “automatic” relief, which often doesn’t happen.

Why avoiding a domestic violence conviction matters

• Your record, and the stigma. A domestic violence conviction shows up on background checks, and the label carries a weight many other charges don’t. Why a clean record matters.
• Your gun rights. A domestic violence conviction puts your right to own a gun at risk, possibly for life, and clearing your record later may not restore it. This area of law is complicated and keeps changing. For many people, this is the biggest concern. More about gun rights.
• Immigration. Not a U.S. citizen? Tell me at the start. A domestic violence conviction can lead to deportation, and I plan around that.
• Custody of your kids. In family court, if a parent is found to have committed domestic violence in the last five years, the law presumes that giving that parent custody isn’t in the child’s best interest. The parent can try to overcome that presumption. A conviction is one way that finding gets made, and the family court can also make its own.
• A year of classes. If a domestic violence conviction ends in probation, the law requires a batterer’s program that lasts at least a year.

Sometimes a custody dispute gives someone a reason to accuse. That isn’t most cases, and I never assume it. But when the facts suggest it’s happening, I look into it, because it can matter a great deal.

Your first court date: Department 60

Domestic violence cases in Sacramento County, misdemeanor and felony, are heard in Department 60 at the Lorenzo Patiño Hall of Justice, 651 I Street. It shares a building with the Main Jail, so most people just call it the jail courthouse. Most other misdemeanors go to the courthouse at 500 G Street, but domestic violence cases don’t. First court dates are usually on the 1:30 p.m. calendar.

If you’re in custody, the first court date is usually about two court days after the arrest, and it matters a lot. It’s the chance to ask the judge to release you without bail, with as few conditions as possible, and it’s where the stay-away order usually comes up. Out of custody, the first court date mostly gets the case started. It almost never ends there.

Do you have to be there? In most misdemeanor cases, my clients never have to go to court. Domestic violence is one of the few exceptions: you’ll need to be at some hearings, including the first one. I’ll tell you which ones ahead of time, and I’m there with you.

Don’t talk about what did or didn’t happen

You can still tell family and friends there’s a case, that you have a lawyer, and when the next court date is. Just leave out what happened that day.

Jail calls are recorded. Jail phone calls and visits can be used against you. Only a confidential visit from your lawyer is private. If you’re family, the next time you talk to your loved one, tell them not to talk about what did or didn’t happen, because everything is recorded.

Taking a class isn’t admitting it

Many clients worry that an anger management class, counseling, or a batterer’s program will look like admitting guilt. It doesn’t. I attack the case with every legal defense available while showing the prosecutor why you deserve some leniency. The goal isn’t to convince the DA nothing happened. It’s to show they’ll have trouble proving it, and that you’re worth a second chance.

And doing the work doesn’t mean I hand it over right away. If the evidence means you shouldn’t concede anything, you can still do the classes so they’re ready, and I hold them back until they’ll help. How I build both sides of a case.

Questions