Victim Recanting

Alexis explains: "a question that our clients commonly ask when they're facing domestic violence charges is will the case get dismissed if the named victim recants or in other words takes back what they said the short answer to this question is no"

Alexis explains: "even if the named victim came forward and recanted or took back what they said if they say i lied or made it up or anything like that to the district attorney or to law enforcement the district attorney and law enforcement are very very hesitant to accept that as true"

Alexis explains: "even if you're tempted to ask someone to recant their story it actually won't do what you're hoping it will do a lot of the times recanting only makes the d.a more willing to press forward"

Alexis explains: "if you are charged with a domestic violence crime you can never ever ever impact a witness or victims statements you can never ask them to recant you can never tell them what to do and as defense attorneys we can't either so when people call and say hey i've been charged with this case will you represent me and we get on board if they then want me to talk to the victim we are not able to do that we're not able to give victims advice"

Alexis explains: "if you're thinking hey if the victim can't will it get dismissed the answer is no again it's very important to contact a criminal defense attorney to talk about the specific nuances in your case and the fact pattern that you are experiencing but the short answer is no victims recanting does not equal a dismissed dv conviction or dismissed db charge"

Alexis explains: "it can actually make the da's case stronger because the da will then be able to bring in a domestic violence expert that expert will testify at trial stating that in a true domestic violence relationship oftentimes victims recant as a way of protecting their abuser"

Alexis explains: "the issue is when domestic violence is alleged in any kind of case and law enforcement in the district attorney's office becomes involved the driving force behind the case moves from the reporting witness or the alleged victim onto the state in other words if you have someone who calls the police after an argument and they say that there's some situation that may involve domestic violence and the police begin to investigate at that point it's actually out of the victims hands"

Alexis explains: "there are ways that cases can be dismissed in colorado springs for example there is a process called a ppir which is a pre-plea investigative report where you can actually talk to a counselor and see what the underlying situation entailed in a given case to see if it actually was an act of domestic violence but just the idea of a victim recanting a statement does not result in an automatic dismissal in fact i have never seen a victim recanting a case and then the d.a dismissed ultimately what happens is the district attorney has to do their own investigation to determine what happened"

Alexis explains: "what often happens is if a victim comes to the district attorney and there have been domestic violence charges filed and the victim says i made it all up i take it back it didn't happen it can actually make the da's case stronger because the da will then be able to bring in a domestic violence expert that expert will testify at trial stating that in a true domestic violence relationship oftentimes victims recant as a way of protecting their abuser"