What to Look for When Considering Retaining an Attorney to Defend a Domestic Violence Charge

Interviewer: If I am searching for a good lawyer for my domestic case, what are some of the qualities I should be looking for? At the same time, what are some of the red flags to watch out for when interviewing private attorneys?

Has the Attorney Handled Other Cases in This Area of the Law?

Michael Kramer: Well you certainly want to look at the normal things that you would look at when you choose any professional, whether it is a doctor or a dentist. Look for years in practice, their prior contact with the criminal justice system; in terms of whether they worked mainly defending people or whether they worked prosecuting at one point or another.

You want to see whether they had specific experience in this area of law.

Always Meet with the Attorney

The most important thing is the in-person interview. You always should interview your attorney. See their approach to the case, see how comfortable you feel with them, and make a judgment at that point. This is because that’s the person that’s going to stand up and represent you in court.

They are representing you before a judge or a jury or the prosecutor. Whether they have 10 years of experience or 30 years of experience, that’s the most important thing in my mind in judging a professional.

Domestic Violence Case Histories

Interviewer: Have you handled any unique cases that you’d like to share with us?

Michael Kramer: The cases that cause me the most aggravation are those where, again, a judge or a prosecutor inserts him or herself in between an otherwise happy marriage.

Are the Judge’s Actions Interference or Protection?

Here is a case that is a bit unusual. Dinner is served, the husband is sick and tired of the wife’s bad cooking. He’s had a bad day at work, he gets aggravated and he takes his plate or takes the food and throws it at his wife. The wife is so aggravated with his actions, she dials 911. The police come, they hear this story, no one is injured, mind you; it’s a loss of temper. But the police feel they have to do something, so they make an arrest anyway.

This is a week before Thanksgiving. The defendant goes to court and the judge says, “I’m going to agree to the prosecutor’s request for an order or protection. Your client has to move out of the house now.”

As his attorney I conference the case with the judge and I say, “Judge, I’ve spoken to the wife. The wife has forgiven the husband. There weren’t any injuries that occurred in this case. It was just a loss of temper that unfortunately occurs often in many, many relationships. Don’t separate the family during the upcoming holidays”

The judge says, “Mr. Kramer I don’t like this type of behavior I don’t think it’s typical. I want the husband out of the house for a period of time.” I say to the judge, “Judge, set a trial date as quick as possible. You will see that the wife doesn’t even want to participate in the prosecution, and will not even show up. This will result in a dismissal of the case. Please give us a trial date as quickly as possible.”

The judge says, “Sorry Mr. Kramer I’m going to use my power and set a trial date months down the road. I want to see if there’s any repeat incidents. In the meantime, the husband has to stay away from his family now for months.”

The Standards of Practice Now in Domestic Violence Cases Can be Frustrating for the Families

Although this case was eventually dismissed, it demonstrates the frustration an attorney who handles domestic violence incidents faces. Especially with judges who lack compassion and empathy and instead, feel they know what is best for a relationship.

The best cases, the ones that are more or less victories are those that start off with terrible fights; physical fights. You don’t think there’s a chance in the world of it ever being resolved without a trial. Then as the case goes on, months and months and months, all of a sudden you get the call from a husband, “My wife has forgiven me. We’re going to get back together and we want to end this matter.” The case results in a dismissal and that’s the best result under those circumstances.

An Overwhelming Majority of Domestic Violence Cases Are Resolved between the Parties before Trial

These are the problems that develop in domestic violence cases. Again, they are all individual. Most of the time, I would say 90 percent of the time, they’re resolved between the parties and do not result in a trial.

How Long May It Take to Resolve a Domestic Violence Case?

Interviewer: How long could a domestic violence case last before a resolution is reached?

Michael Kramer: It depends upon an attorney’s evaluation of the case. If the parties are going to resolve their differences and if a wife, for example, is going to forgive the husband and doesn’t want to continue with the prosecution, then the objective is to end the prosecution as quickly as possible, to end the order of protection and stay away provision.

In that case, you would be requesting a trial as soon as possible. Unfortunately, you meet obstacles, like the one I gave in that previous example, of a judge using his judgment as to what he thinks is best for the relationship and not giving you a trial date at the earliest possible time, thus making the parties continue to suffer needlessly.