Chris Kaigle, an attorney with The Umansky Law Firm, recently represented a client who was charged with domestic violence. The allegation was that she hit her husband while they were in their household in front of their minor child. When the client came in, Attorney Kaigle read over the facts of the case, and discussed the matter with the client. Ultimately, Mr. Kaigle contacted her husband, and he indicated that he did not want to press charges, that the entire thing was a misunderstanding, and that he had no intention of prosecuting the client. The possible options were then discussed in order to get the case dropped. Ultimately, the husband filled out what is called a declination of prosecution. Essentially, this is a document that is filed with the court and the prosecutor and signed by an alleged victim in a case. This document lets the prosecutor, the court, and all parties involved know that the alleged victim is not interested in proceeding with case.
The good thing was that charges had not yet been formally filed, and the client had just been arrested. Attorney Chris Kaigle contacted the prosecutor after filing the declination of prosecution, and had a conversation with her about the merits and the facts of this particular case. The fact that the alleged victim did not wanted to go forward and that the charges had not yet been filed was discussed. As a result, the client would save his trip to the courthouse, the prosecutor wouldn’t have to do anything else with the case, the alleged victim ultimately gets what he wants. Lastly, the client isn’t facing the one year incarceration, one year of probation, and a $1,000 fine, as well as the mandatory conviction on a record. Ultimately, after discussing it with the prosecutor, she agreed to drop the case. The case was dropped, and the client was able to return home to her husband.
In another case, another attorney at The Umansky Law Firm recently had a domestic violence case. In this particular case, the case involved the client, who was a step-daughter, and a victim who was the step-father. In this case, the family ended up getting into a disagreement. The police were called by a younger brother because of the escalating situation at the house, and both parties, the client as well as a step-father, ended up getting arrested. Our attorney’s client came to her indicating that she didn’t want to go forward with prosecution, but she also wanted to make sure her step-father didn’t want to go forward with prosecution, either. What made the case unique was that the step-father was absent often because he was a contractor in Iraq.
The day when this incident happened, the stepfather left on a plane and was going back overseas. The good thing is about the situation is that the stepfather had hired the lawyer before he left, so our attorney was able to use connections and contact that lawyer. It was indicated to him that the client didn’t want to go forward, but documentation that his client didn’t want to go forward with prosecution was necessary as well. The Umansky Law Firm attorney was able to work together to exchange what is called an affidavit and supported declination of prosecution on this case. Once these were received for the client, which said the step-father didn’t want to go forward with prosecution, our attorney was then able to forward that to the State Attorney’s office. That was enough for the prosecution to say they weren’t going forward with this case and dropped the case against the client.
The Umansky Law Firm Criminal Defense & Injury Attorneys
