According to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), 36.8 percent of women and 30.5 percent of men in Colorado have been victims of some form of domestic abuse. Such people have the right to seek legal protection, but what’s your side of the story?
By their very nature, domestic violence cases are personal, complex, and emotionally charged. It can often be one person’s word against another in these situations, and facts could be hard to prove.
Building a strong defense of a domestic violence charge may be the furthest thing from your mind in the middle of a tense situation. However, the more objective evidence you can produce, the better your chances of success.
The Colorado domestic violence attorneys at Wolf Law LLC understand domestic violence cases. We can guide you through the legal process, get you the evidence you need, and build you a case that stands up during court proceedings and could help you clear your name. In this post, we will explore the role evidence plays in telling your side of the story.
Types of Evidence and the Role They Play in Domestic Violence Cases
If you stand charged with domestic abuse, it is vital for your personal and professional future to mount the strongest possible defense. The quality of the evidence you produce could be the difference between a conviction and walking away with your life intact.
Pictures and videos
Producing physical evidence could be a great way to strengthen the defense’s case in domestic violence cases.
Pictures and videos of incidents of domestic violence can help in several ways, including:
- Giving location information
- Timestamping events
- Providing evidence of hidden or visible injuries
- Showing property damaged or destroyed in the altercation
It may not be practical to stop and video a tense situation. However, doorbell cameras and baby monitors may record footage that could possibly be used in legal proceedings, as Colorado is a one-party consent state for video recordings.
Additionally, photos and video evidence may record a video of the accuser’s erratic or threatening behavior. Videos or photos may protect you from later accusations of causing property damage or injuries. A Wolf Law LLC attorney can review all evidence you have gathered and advise whether it can be used in court.
Medical records and reports
In Colorado, medical professionals are required to report to the police or sheriff injuries that they believe resulted from domestic violence.
Medical professionals are also required to refer domestic violence victims to a victim’s advocate or provide them with information about support services available to them. However, medical teams do not act as judge and jury in deciding whether domestic abuse took place.
At Wolf Law LLC, we are experienced in handling domestic violence cases, and we can help you, too. We can advise you on whether medical reports are admissible in your court case or could be considered hearsay evidence.
In some domestic violence cases, we may call upon witnesses—such as forensic scientists, psychologists, or medical experts—to give expert testimony based on their specialized knowledge. Our criminal defense attorneys can also review medical evidence of your injuries to evaluate whether it could strengthen your case by building a different picture of what happened.
Property damage
Broken furniture and other household items can provide valuable insights into what happened, but damaged property could tell a very different story to the one the prosecution is trying to paint.
Rather than substantiating the alleged victim’s claims, property damage may corroborate your version of events. It could indicate that you were acting in self-defense rather than being the aggressor.
Personal testimony
Sadly, when relationships irretrievably break down, one partner may choose to make false allegations of domestic violence against the other. Attention seeking, revenge, and a desire to obtain custody of any children from the relationship could be motivating factors.
If the alleged victim’s claims are proven false, he or she could face criminal charges. These could include lying under oath and, rarely, filing false police reports. In the meantime, the damage done to the reputation of the accused party could be substantial.
A dedicated domestic violence defense attorney will go through the victim’s claims with a fine-toothed comb to see whether the accusations stand up to scrutiny. If there are inconsistencies, your defense attorney can seek further evidence to prove the accusation is false.
Police reports
When called to incidents of domestic violence, the police have a duty to investigate the case and not make assumptions about who is to blame. The police report has importance as an objective account that could help prove your case.
Your domestic violence defense attorney will examine the police report to uncover the following:
- 911 phone calls: What impression of the incident was given to the dispatcher?
- Witness testimony: Do statements taken by the police support your claims that you were not responsible?
- Medical evidence: Do the pictures of wounds or other injuries taken by the police back up your story?
- Physical evidence: Do the police photographs of the alleged domestic violence crime scenes show that a violent altercation took place or give a different impression?
- Your statement: Is the statement you gave to the police consistent with your current story?
Depending on the circumstances, the police report could help your attorney build a strong case that the allegations against you are false.
Digital communications
Today, much of our time is spent communicating online. Digital communications, such as social media posts or comments, text messages, and emails, could either back up or tear down your personal testimony.
Weaken your case
During the discovery process, you should expect the prosecutor to conduct a thorough search of your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, emails, WhatsApp messages, and all other forms of digital communication. He or she will be looking for evidence to prove the state’s case.
Prosecution seeks evidence to:
- Cast doubt on alibis
- Reveal illegal connections
- Highlight incriminatory statements
Strengthen your case
Digital communication works both ways. Your domestic abuse attorney can conduct his or her own discovery, looking for evidence that paints a different picture of you and your accuser. This could help to uncover false accusations and strengthen your defense in court.
Digital evidence may include:
- Photos, messages, and videos giving evidence that you are of good character
- Messages that show how the other party treated you
- Contradictory evidence posted by your accuser
While your case is ongoing, never post anything about it on social media. The prosecution could use this to undermine your case and increase the likelihood of a conviction.
How Domestic Violence Cases Work in Colorado
There are no specific statutes that define domestic violence in detail in Colorado’s law books. Therefore, domestic violence is added to other criminal charges as a sentence enhancer or aggravator. An aggravator is a factor that makes the initial charge more serious.
Defining domestic violence
For a crime to be considered domestic violence, it must meet the definition set out in the Colorado Revised Statutes, Criminal Code § 18-6-800.3:
- Occurring within an intimate relationship, either current or past
- Affecting a person, property, or animal
- Including acts or threatened acts
“Intimate relationships” are defined as:
- Current or former spouses
- Past or present unmarried couples
- People who are the parents of the same child, whether or not they have lived together
Accusations of domestic violence must be taken seriously by both accusers and perpetrators. Although domestic violence cases are often fast-tracked in Colorado, once an accusation has been made, it can take some time for justice to be done.
No-drop policy
In Colorado, accusations of domestic abuse are particularly serious as they cannot be withdrawn by the accuser later. To protect victims’ safety and hold those responsible for domestic violence accountable, those who make accusations in Colorado cannot unilaterally drop domestic abuse charges.
The only way to prove or be exonerated from domestic abuse charges is to see the case through to its conclusion. This emphasizes why building a strong case based on solid evidence is crucial for both sides.
How Wolf Law Defends Rights in Domestic Violence Cases
False accusations of domestic violence could severely tarnish your reputation and lead to unjust convictions. It is vital to work with a criminal defense law firm with a track record of securing victories for their clients. While each case is unique, when the criminal defense attorneys at Wolf Law LLC take on your case, we will fight with all we have for the best result on your behalf.
Our testimonials show that our clients trust us because we truly care about them as individuals. We understand what is on the line and will fight tenaciously as we endeavor to clear your name from the beginning of the legal process through to the end.
It all starts with a free initial consultation with a Wolf Law LLC domestic violence defense attorney. Call us today at 720-479-8574 or complete our online contact form, and we will call you back the same day.
