What to Avoid If You Have Been Charged with Domestic Violence

San Antonio Protective Order Attorney

Interviewer: What are the common mistakes people make once they’re been charged that makes the situation worse?

Attorney Churak Advises Compliance with Any Protective Order

Attorney Churak: I think probably the worst situation you could create is to violate the protective order. In other words, you committed another offense because you couldn’t leave the other party alone and you continued to pester them or contact them. That happens quite frequently, even where the complaining witness is the one making contact.

Attorney Churak Advises His Clients Not to Sustain Contact with the Complaining Witness, Even If He or She Is the One Initiating Contact

I’ve had the complaining witness contacting my client and I keep on telling him or her, no, do not talk to them. Do not talk to them. You can get in big trouble. It’s going to come back to haunt you and yet they don’t seem to listen.

You Will Not Be Able to Talk Your Way out of an Additional Charge If You Violate a Protective Order

They think that they can talk their way out of the situation and think they can make it go away. For the most part, it doesn’t work because if they’re going to dismiss the case, the DA is going to do it on their own volition. They’re not going to have the other side convince them to do it.

There is a situation they call the “battered wife syndrome” where the alleged victim cannot refrain from being with the accused and that supports the DA’s stance on prosecuting these cases. The DA claims that the only reason the complaining witness doesn’t want to prosecute is because they are going through battered wife syndrome.