DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND STALKING

Orlando criminal violent crimes defense attorney David A. Faulkner represents individuals accused of a variety of state criminal violent crimes charges, including the charges of domestic violence or stalking.  Whether you are a tourist or a local resident, we can help you with your domestic violence or stalking case. 
Florida law has defined "domestic violence" as follows:

741.28. Domestic violence; definitions

 (2) "Domestic violence" means any assault, aggravated assault, battery, aggravated battery, sexual assault, sexual battery, stalking, aggravated stalking, kidnapping, false imprisonment, or any criminal offense resulting in physical injury or death of one family or household member by another family or household member.

(3) "Family or household member" means spouses, former spouses, persons related by blood or marriage, persons who are presently residing together as if a family or who have resided together in the past as if a family, and persons who are parents of a child in common regardless of whether they have been married. With the exception of persons who have a child in common, the family or household members must be currently residing or have in the past resided together in the same single dwelling unit.

In cases of domestic violence, a court may order the accused to complete a batterer's counseling program as stated in the following statute:

741.281. Court to order batterers' intervention program attendance

If a person is found guilty of, has had adjudication withheld on, or has pled nolo contendere to a crime of domestic violence, as defined in s. 741.28, that person shall be ordered by the court to a minimum term of 1 year's probation and the court shall order that the defendant attend a batterers' intervention program as a condition of probation. The court must impose the condition of the batterers' intervention program for a defendant under this section, but the court, in its discretion, may determine not to impose the condition if it states on the record why a batterers' intervention program might be inappropriate. The court must impose the condition of the batterers' intervention program for a defendant placed on probation unless the court determines that the person does not qualify for the batterers' intervention program pursuant to s. 741.325. Effective July 1, 2002, the batterers' intervention program must be a certified program under s. 741.32. The imposition of probation under this section shall not preclude the court from imposing any sentence of imprisonment authorized by s. 775.082.

There may be minimum jail time imposed in some domestic violence cases as outlined in this state statute:

741.283. Minimum term of imprisonment for domestic violence

If a person is adjudicated guilty of a crime of domestic violence, as defined in s. 741.28, and the person has intentionally caused bodily harm to another person, the court shall order the person to serve a minimum of 5 days in the county jail as part of the sentence imposed, unless the court sentences the person to a nonsuspended period of incarceration in a state correctional facility. This section does not preclude the court from sentencing the person to probation, community control, or an additional period of incarceration.

Often times the alleged victim, who may be the accused's family member, wife, husband, boyfriend, grilfriend etc. may not want to prosecute.  Despite the alleged victim's wishes, law enforcement may still arrest the accused and the State may still go forward with prosecuting the accused.  The State is more likely to go forward with prosecuting a domestic violence case if there are independent witnesses to the violence, such as a neighbor.

If you, a friend or a family member has questions about a domestic violence or stalking charge, then Orlando criminal violent crimes defense attorney David A. Faulkner may be able to assit.  Contact him today.