Zoe Levesque

A very common one is careless driving. So oftent times if you're involved in an accident and the cops determine that you're the at fault party or even if they determine both parties are at fault, you can be charged with careless driving, which is just that you were doing anything in an imprudent manner that you disregarded the widths, grade, curves, or any other circumstances of the road. So it's an extremely broad statute just discussing pretty much that you disregarded some traffic signal or a curve or you're going a little too fast, things like that. And so we often see it with traffic accidents, you being charged with careless, and it's just an imprudent manner and really a negligent standard. It doesn't mean that there's any intentional behavior or reckless behavior in your driving.

Another major one is reckless, which is higher than careless driving. And so reckless driving is meaning that you were acting with a willful and wantton disregard for the traffic, for signals, for the road conditions, things like that. And so it's a higher level of culpability and it's a higher charge.

And then another one is we see a lot of times leaving the scene of an accident or also failure to report an accident. And so leaving the scene of an accident, anytime you're involved in any accident, whether it's damage only or there's injury or whether someone even sadly passes away, there's always a duty to stop at the accident, even if the other person leaves. And so leaving the scene of an accident is actually strict liability crime, which means that there doesn't have to be an intention to leave the scene. just means that you left the scene in general and didn't stay after an accident.

And it's similar to reporting an accident. So, even if you're in a minor parking lot fender bender, you always have a duty to call the cops or to file a police report online or call the non-emergency line and report that there was an accident. Even if you don't intend to, you know, try to evade law enforcement by not reporting these accidents, there's still a a requirement that you do no matter what occurred.

and leaving the scene of the accident can you can actually face higher penalties and you can even face a felony if someone suffers what's called serious bodily injury meaning a broken bone or permanent disability based on this accident and you left that scene of an accident.

Often times you see with these types of cases with major traffic offenses that we see all the time is restitution. And so that's the damages that someone can seek in a criminal court that are related to traffic charges. And restitution applies to other crimes, too, but it just often applies to these traffic cases. It's a way for people to seek their damages within the criminal court system.

So it's an extremely broad statute just discussing pretty much that you disregarded some traffic signal or a curve or you're going a little too fast, things like that.

There's a couple defenses you can use in a domestic violence case. The first is going to be self-defense. So, you can argue that you're acting in defense of yourself. However, that requires that there has to be an imminent danger and that the use of force you use has to be reasonable based on that imminent danger. You can also use defense of others. So, that means that someone else was in imminent danger and you used a reasonable amount of force to defend that other person. And then the last one is choice of evils, which just means that there was a situation or another harm that could have occurred, whether that's another crime or something else, and you acted in this incident as to avoid that other result, which could have been worse than the result that you had caused.

The first is going to be self-defense. So, you can argue that you're acting in defense of yourself. However, that requires that there has to be an imminent danger and that the use of force you use has to be reasonable based on that imminent danger.

You can also use defense of others. So, that means that someone else was in imminent danger and you used a reasonable amount of force to defend that other person.

And then the last one is choice of evils, which just means that there was a situation or another harm that could have occurred, whether that's another crime or something else, and you acted in this incident as to avoid that other result, which could have been worse than the result that you had caused.

Anytime you're charged with a domestic violence crime or the court believes that there's probable cause for domestic violence crime, they're going to require you to complete a firearm affidavit. What that means is that you have to sign a form that says you either own no firearms or that you've relinquished this firearm or transferred it to another individual.

That's just because whenever you're under investigation for a domestic violence crime or charged with one, you're not allowed to possess a firearm. If you don't comply with this affidavit or if the prosecution is able to find out that you were lying on this affidavit, you can face new charges such as a violation of protection order or other charges and consequences if you don't complete the firearm affidavit or if you're not complying with it.

Another unique circumstance you often find with domestic violence crimes is a mandatory protection order. So, statute requires that a mandatory protection order be issued anytime that there's a domestic violence crime. Often this mandatory protection order makes it so that you cannot contact, harass, molest, intimidate, or live in the home with the person who is said to be the alleged victim. Often you need a lawyer to help you in modifying this protection order that can allow you to go back home or have contact or things like that.

The third circumstance is going to be that the prosecutor has full discretion in continuing to press charges. So often times in domestic violence, just because the alleged victim does not want to press charges anymore and says that they want the case dropped, that does not mean that the prosecutor drops the case. The prosecutor goes off the evidence they have. And while they'll consider the fact that that person doesn't want charges to be pressed anymore and that they want the case to be dismissed, if the prosecutor believes they have sufficient evidence to continue forward with the case, they'll continue to prosecute it no matter what the alleged victim wants.