PT20M47S
“so a lot of people think that dv cases are a specific charge it's kind of a misnomer though so dv or domestic violence um is actually like a modifier to a case um so the way that you can think of it is you don't have um like a red ball you just have a ball but it is the type of ball that it is so with a case any kind of case can be a domestic violence case if you add on domestic violence that's just adding on a modifier or it's called a sentence enhancer to the case itself”
“what makes it a domestic violence case is if it is between two people who are in intimate relationship and intimate does not necessarily mean sexual it can be um anything from being a boyfriend girlfriend so we've seen domestic violence cases with kiddos in school um as young as like 10 years old it can be any type of situation where there was a previous intimate relationship or previous sexual relationship like between ex-spouses all the way up to people who are currently in a relationship”
“domestic violence laws have become much more strict in colorado and we have what's called a mandatory arrest law so if someone is charged or accused of committing an act of domestic violence there's a mandatory arrest there's no like getting a bond and paying a bond and not having to go to jail you are going to jail if you're charged with domestic violence part of that is there's also going to be a mandatory protection order issued”
“for domestic violence criminal charges a mandatory order enters saying hey you cannot have contact with this person you cannot be at the home where they are even if it's your own home you have to vacate the home you can have any contact that means any contact like texting chatting face timing we see a lot of people trying to snapchat that's not allowed either and you can't have indirect contact”
“when someone's arrested for an act of domestic violence they're immediately taken to the jail they're put into the jail and they're held there without bond until a hearing can be set because in colorado with domestic violence cases to protect domestic violence victims the domestic violence laws say that you have to have a hearing to see whether or not this person gets a bond”
“the person who's the named victim in the case can speak they have the right to speak it's a constitutional right in colorado they have to speak at this hearing and you can also request things if you're charged”
“you can request what's called a keep the peace order a keep the peace order is an order issued by a judge and what that does is it's a piece of paper that you get you take to the sheriffs and the sheriffs will go with you to your home making sure that nothing happens they're there to kind of keep the beast which is why it's called keep the peace order and you have about 10 to 15 minutes to go in grab some clothes grab some toilet tease get what you need out of the house and then you have to leave again”
“you can't have firearms in your home or in your possession if you have a charge not even a conviction just if you're charged with domestic violence you can't be around guns or ammunition at all if you own firearms which is incredibly important here in colorado springs because we have so many military bases and service members you have to get rid of all guns you have to make sure that you're not around them at all”
“for right law group we're pretty cool in that we have 24-hour answering services and it's not like a service overseas like a lot of these law firms we actually have a staff member from our team answering the phone we don't have any private contractors um answering the phone so if you call our law firm we have people calling in the middle of the night saying hey the cops are at my door i'm about to get arrested”
“a lot of our clients especially my favorite clients to work with are people who are suffering from ptsd i can't tell you how many people i've worked with who either have ptsd from service related issues or ptsd from previous rapes or assaults and if you know anything about ptsd you get all worked up and you get in this cycle and you don't even know what's happening like you're just lashing out”
“um other defenses are intoxication if someone's drunk we can get them into treatment help them we have a number of treatment providers that we partner up with um to make sure that we're working with them”
“sometimes people get charged when they were the person who's actually the victim in the case yeah we've seen that we see it time and time again people think that if you call the police you're going to be safe but unfortunately there are times when someone who's truly a domestic violence abuser can twist the system”
“that person who called the cops can be arrested and it's awful but in that case we have a very solid self-defense claim yeah um so many things that we see with domestic violence cases are you know if there's someone who's being hurt and they're trying to get out of the situation um women usually have longer nails than men and so they're trying to scratch their way out other more serious injuries don't show up so if someone's being strangled that hurts your neck but you're not going to necessarily see any injuries”
“we have what's called a mandatory arrest law so if someone is charged or accused of committing an act of domestic violence there's a mandatory arrest there's no like getting a bond and paying a bond and not having to go to jail you are going to jail if you're charged with domestic violence”
“you can't have firearms in your home or in your possession if you have a charge not even a conviction just if you're charged with domestic violence you can't be around guns or ammunition at all”
“you can request what's called a keep the peace order a keep the peace order is an order issued by a judge and what that does is it's a piece of paper that you get you take to the sheriffs and the sheriffs will go with you to your home”
“our firm we really pride ourselves we're prior prosecutors we have great great respect for law enforcement i have a number of friends that are law enforcement and still in law enforcement”
“our firm is really focused on doing the right thing which is why we're right law group and sometimes the right thing is educating people on hey a lot of things have happened in this case let's calm down let's take a second let's talk it out and let's make sure that we're all proceeding in the right way”