In Colorado, victims of domestic violence have certain and specific rights. These rights are fundamental to fairness and to victims being treated properly, respectfully, and with fairness and dignity. If you are the victim of domestic violence (or named as a victim in a police report or in the charges in court), you need an experienced domestic violence attorney to represent you, your rights, and your interests.
THE WRONGFULLY-NAMED VICTIM:
A person who is not a victim, but police and prosecutors insist is a victim and ignores their rights.
Often people are alleged to be victims but are in fact not victims. Sometimes the police pressure and coerce people to say things they don’t mean (or simply lie about what was said by a person). The police often misinterpret and misconstrue what a person says. Along with this, the police often claim people are victims of domestic violence when such people really are not victims at all. Nonetheless, the police refer the case to the district attorney’s office for prosecution, and once the prosecution reviews the police reports (which can be wholly inaccurate), the prosecutions files charges in court.
At this point, the person named as the victim may feel powerless against the police and prosecution. Such named victims are often threatened by the police or prosecution. Such threats will include charging the named victim with giving false information to the police, with interfering with a criminal investigation or government agency, with perjury, or other similar criminal conduct. Prosecutors and police have even involved the Department of Human Services to threaten to take children away from a parent who refuses to testify (untruthfully) against their spouse; in this scenario, social services (with the cooperation of the police and prosecution) will allege dependency and neglect and claim a parent is endangering their children – all because a wrongfully-named victim refuses to lie for the police and prosecutor in court.
BOTTOM LINE (and what is most important): in many of these situations, such threats by police and prosecutors against a wrongfully-named victim are simply nefarious, insincere, and meritless.
All criminal laws (generally codified in state statutes and referred to as the Colorado Revised Statutes) require specific elements to be met and certain burdens of proof to be established before such charges can be brought against a person. When the police and prosecutors begin threatening a person named as a victim because the person refuses to say what the police and prosecution want them to say (often an untruthful version of events), the police and prosecutors are simply trying to scare the person into lying and saying what the police and prosecution want them to say. The police and prosecution are merely trying to strong-arm and coerce the named-victim into lying for them in court.
In this situation, the person named as a victim has specific and affective rights and privileges they can assert in court and seek redress from the court. In fact, such malicious threats by the prosecution can even give rise to civil lawsuits against the prosecution and police. Usually, however, the named victim’s recourse will result in the named victim getting a satisfactory outcome to the case – including the case being completely dismissed.
For these reasons, named victims in criminal case should hire an experienced domestic violence victims’ attorney to represent them and their interest. It is never a good idea to trust the prosecution, police, or courts to represent a victim’s interests. Police lie to cover up their poor investigation. Prosecutors are given cash rewards for obtaining convictions and are simply trying to make a name for themselves. Judges are elected and often either don’t have authority to ensure that truth prevails or don’t have the bravery to act in the face of political pressure and impending elections.
Retaining an experienced domestic violence victims’ attorney is the best way to ensure justice for victims and justice in the case!
MASTERSON HALL, P.C.
Call the attorneys directly: 720-445-5505.
Schedule your NO-OBLIGATION consultation today.
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