Accused of Domestic Assault in St. Louis or St. Charles?

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What will most likely happen is that they're going to arrest the person and the children are going to stay with the other parent. That is the most common outcome.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of occurrences where the children are caught in the middle of a nasty custody battle. Sometimes police get used as a way to bolster this custody battle. The "victim" will call the police and will falsely accuse the spouse or partner of domestic assault.

Domestic assault charges are often loaded with half truths and outright lies. Many domestic assault cases are based on circumstantial evidence and one person's word against another. Sadly, children are caught in these situations and domestic assault is weaponized to be used against the parent in a custody battle.

Most domestic assault charges happen in a fairly specific set of events

1. The police are called by a neighbor, family member of someone involved in an altercation. Many times it will be a neighbor that hears a heated argument or banging on walls and decides to call the police.

2. The police arrive at the home where the expect an altercation of some kind has occurred. The police will knock on the door, enter the residence, take a look around and start collecting statements. Many times regardless of what people say in the statements the police will look at the residence for any sign of a physical confrontation. If they believe there has been a physical confrontation they will arrest someone.

   From the police perspective they're already at the residence and it's considered best practices to arrest someone. What the police are trying to avoid is any escalation in violence. The reason many municipal police stations consider the arrest 'best practices' is for example most homicides in suburban neighborhoods are by spouses or intimate people that live in the same household.

3. After an arrest you are now charged with domestic assault. Most domestic assault charges we've represented have no prior criminal history of any kind. Domestic assault charges have many life altering repercussions including losing some of your rights.

4. You do not want to plead guilty to a domestic assault charge without speaking with a lawyer from the Krupp Law Firm first. You want to fight domestic assault charges as much as possible.

There are a variety of instances that can lead to a Domestic Violence charge in Missouri. Some of the most common charges stem from violations of protection orders or a domestic dispute that leads to one partner calling the police to report the conduct of another partner.

Sometimes there are physical acts involved, however, it is common that a police interaction could occur without any physical interaction. A threat of assault, or even now with the emergence of online communication devices such as text messaging and Snapchat, certain harassment or stalking behavior could lead to a domestic violence charge.

For example, it is possible to be charged with domestic Assault for throwing water on your spouse. The threshold for a domestic assault is very low. I don't believe a lot of people understand that until they're facing it. There are a lot of municipalities it most likely won't be heard in state or federal court for the charge.

It's similar to being able to get a littering ticket by throwing a candy wrapper out of your car window. It's a lesser charge but it is a domestic assault charge that will be on your record. If in the future, you face any other criminal charge you could get tougher sentencing or possibly lose some of your rights. It could also affect things such as employment.

Domestic assault charges primarily happen when it's somebody in their home. We have many cases right now where the defendant and the victim were not in their home. The only thing the prosecutor needs to prove is that you're in a domestic relationship.

For example, if you get pulled over in your car and domestic assault's going on, or you're at Target or Walmart and there's domestic assault going on the police are going to ask you "is that your boyfriend, or do you live with them?" If the victim says "Yes." then you're in a domestic relationship with the victim and you will be charged with domestic assault.

Verbal abuse as domestic assault.

We've never personally seen someone charged with verbal abuse as domestic assault but I'm not here to say that somebody's not going to try it. If the victim does try it we will defend it all the way.

We've had cases where there is a very solid dispute as to whether or not anybody physically touched the victim. After the victim cools down and is no longer angry they will tell the truth and say "Nobody touched me. He didn't touch me. I was mad. So I called the police and told the police that they hit me."

The whole point of domestic assault and why it is different than assault is that the legislature is trying to prevent spouses or abusive partners from keeping abuse upon a "primarily weaker individual". I believe a lot of criminal defense lawyers would share that opinion. The law is trying to not allow people to abuse other people that have perceived power over another.

Unfortunately, that has spilled over to roommate disputes because under the letter of the law if you're living with the person in some circumstances they might be considered a "domestic victim" and you can be charged with domestic assault.

An interesting caveat to that is same-sex relationships. I have seen that there's a question about roommate versus Same-sex relationships. When I was working in the prosecutor's office. I would see police go to what was clearly a domestic assault case not a roommate's fighting case. It just happened to be two people that were in a same-sex relationship, when the police arrived at the home, the statements made are "we're just roommates" and the police are suspecting it is a domestic assault charge. If they're just roommates are people going to believe it's domestic assault? I remember at the time thinking to myself use your common sense, are they in a relationship? how long they've been together? but if the police can't prove it they will hesitate to charge you with domestic assault.

what should you do next if you get a domestic assault charge with your roommate?

The first thing you should do is call our criminal defense lawyers and figure out what your next step is. You've got a domestic assault charge. You want to get that off your record if you can. If the "victim" has a serious injury you're going to be charged with a first-degree, second-degree, or maybe third-degree assault charge. You're looking at a lot of more serious considerations. If you're facing a standard fourth-degree or municipal domestic assault charge as a roommate you should also call our criminal defense lawyers. My hope is that there's a way to work it out without having to go to a jury trial.

After police report, a potential domestic violence issue to the State for prosecution, a charging attorney at the prosecutor’s office will most likely review certain factors to determine whether or not to file a domestic assault charge or some other charge involving domestic violence.

Some factors include;

• whether there was an arrest made during the altercation,
• whether there was any physical harm,
• whether there were any threats,
• whether there was any damage to property,
• and how many times have police been dispatched to the location for similar instances.

Requirement for a Mandatory Arrest

In Missouri, unlike some other jurisdictions, the State law does not require police to make an arrest after responding to a domestic dispute unless an officer has to respond to the same address within twelve hours for a similar circumstance, then arrest becomes mandatory.

Still, some local police departments may implement their own policy to protect the safety of potential victims in an abusive relationship and arrest someone after reporting to any domestic dispute so that they are not called back to the same scene later or to ensure that there would be no further escalation of the dispute. Once a prosecutor decides that the evidence is strong enough, they will file a complaint and the normal criminal defense process will begin. Domestic Assault can also be commonly referred to as Domestic Violence.

You're in a domestic relationship and you are accused of assaulting a domestic victim. That's all you need to be charged.

If you are accused of physical contact that was harmful or offensive to the "domestic victim" and you purposefully caused it. That's the threshold of a domestic assault charge. To be charged with a felony domestic assault there has to be some kind of injury

A serious disagreement between defense attorneys and prosecutors is the definition of 'injury'. Common sense would state an injury as something visible or credible something possibly a gash, a cut, a bruise, or something similar.

I've witnessed prosecutors try to say "it's something painful, it's still painful, that's the injury".

That logic probably won't hold in a court of appeals. The more severe the domestic assault charge the more of an injury the "domestic victim" will have. This would include injuries from gunshots, knife wounds, or severe physical assault. If the "domestic victim" does not have this type of injury you most likely won't be charged with first-degree or second-degree domestic assault.

In addition to a criminal conviction, which would carry traditional consequences such as potential jail or prison time, probation, loss of job opportunities, and other consequences, it also may affect one’s ability to own and carry firearms (see the video below), and most notably could have a significant impact on child custody arrangements either now or in the future.

The most common misconception about domestic assault charges is that the "victim" holds the power in their hands to press charges or not press charges. In most other cases the "victim" does have the power to press charges or not press charges.

As an example say your neighbor throws something at your house and breaks your window. The victim calls the police. The police ask the victim if they want to press charges. You can say "Yes, I want to press charges." Afterward, you can speak with the prosecutor "I worked it out. I don't want to press charges." The prosecutor will consider dropping the charges in a property crimes case.

This is not true for domestic assault charges. The victim, in almost all cases, will not be able to pressure or persuade the prosecutor to drop charges. Especially if this is not the first domestic assault charge. The prosecutor will take the victim's statement and continue forward. The theory is that the victim has some sort of battered spouse syndrome. The prosecutor believes the victim is trying to drop the charges because they are in an abusive relationship.

In many circumstances domestic assault charges will arise out of a heated debate of passion between partners, someone will be arrested and there is a lot of initial anger or animosity. Sometimes the alleged victim will change their mind as to whether they want to press charges, especially where the two parties have a child together and do not want to see one of the parents incarcerated or hurt the family’s earning potential. There are a variety of reasons that an alleged victim would no longer want to press charges and, in some circumstances, the alleged victim doesn’t want to press charges, to begin with.

These cases are not the alleged victim against the defendant, they are the State of Missouri against the defendant.

Therefore, in St. Louis and St. Charles counties, sometimes the state prosecutors will do their best to move forward with the prosecution despite the wishes of the alleged victim. This creates an interesting scenario that should be handled by someone who understands how the courts work in these situations which are very delicate.

Non-prosecution Affidavit

An affidavit is a sworn statement from the victim. Often times the Non-prosecution Affidavit says I don't want to press charges anymore. In most circumstances, not all, and we have done them before but too many lawyers that practice domestic violence law is obsessed with Non-prosecution Affidavits. We believe many times prosecutors feel that you and your lawyer are trying to manipulate them and/or tamper with evidence. Prosecutors are not happy with that and they're not going to drop charges. That's why we are very weary to file non-prosecution affidavits in domestic assault cases.

Under Missouri Law “Domestic Victim” means, a household or family member as the term “family” or “household member” is defined, including any child who is a member of the household or family.

“Family” or “household member” includes:

• spouses,
• former spouses,
• any person related by blood or marriage,
• persons who are presently residing together or have resided together in the past,
• any person who is or has been in a continuing social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the victim,
• and anyone who has a child in common regardless of whether they have been married or have resided together at any time.

Can you be prevented from going back to your house if you share the house with your victim and your victim's at the house?

Yes, absolutely if it's part of your bond not to be in contact with the "victim", which is very common, then yes. You can be stopped from having contact with the victim. Meaning if the victim is in the house that you share you will not be able to go to that home if it is a condition of your bond.

In Missouri, if there is a domestic assault (domestic violence) charge pending, the state may also request the judge enter into an order of protection on behalf of the alleged victim of the crime.

Temporary and Permeant Order Of Protection

In most instances, the order of protection will be a temporary one and there will be a brief hearing and an opportunity for argument by counsel (or the parties if they are unrepresented) to argue why there should or should not be a temporary protection order. To seek a permanent protection order there must be an evidentiary hearing to determine whether a protection order will be put in place.

More Charges?

The protection order plays a significant role in the realm of domestic violence cases because a violation of a protection order, for instance by making contact with the alleged victim, could lead to more charges while your domestic assault or other charges are pending. This is unfortunately a common occurrence where two partners have children.

Yes, it's possible. Almost every criminal case in which there is a victim would also contain the possibility of a civil lawsuit right. If a "victim" has an injury it is most likely possible that you can be sued in civil court.

If you are accused of domestic assault it is possible the victim could try to sue you in civil court. Criminal charges and civil are very close but the wording in the law is slightly different.