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Texas Defense Strategies When You’ve Been Accused of Family Violence
Being accused of domestic violence is one of the most damaging allegations a person can face, even if you haven’t been convicted. These charges carry severe legal penalties, and even the mere allegation of violence can affect your reputation, relationships, and career. But no matter how you got here, you have the right to defend yourself, and you deserve the strongest defense possible.
Whether you’ve been falsely accused or you made a mistake you now regret, what happens next depends on the choices you make. An experienced domestic violence defense attorney and the correct legal strategy can help you protect your rights and fight for your freedom. Keep reading to find out how these charges work in Texas and the most common domestic violence defense strategies.
Understanding Domestic Violence Laws in Texas
In Texas, domestic violence is more commonly referred to as family violence. Family violence is a category of crimes, including domestic assault, aggravated domestic assault, sexual assault, kidnapping, stalking, harassment, and continuous violence against the family. Family violence offenses can be either misdemeanors or felonies under Texas law, depending on the situation.
Family violence allegations can be brought against someone who has a current or former romantic partnership or marital relationship with the other party or is related to them either through blood or marriage. Potential consequences if convicted can include incarceration, fines, probation, community service, mandatory counseling or another treatment program.
Defense Strategies When You’ve Been Accused of Family Violence
No matter what your situation is or what events led you to this place, you have legal options to fight back and protect your freedom. It’s always important to discuss what defense strategies may work for your case with your attorney. They can provide legal counsel and guidance, explaining how each strategy works and what benefits and drawbacks it has. Below are four of the most common defense tactics for those facing allegations of family violence.
Self-Defense
Relationships are challenging, and the closer you are to somebody, the more emotionally charged they can be. Every relationship has disagreements from time to time, and it’s not uncommon for those discussions to go off track or escalate. If you were attacked during an argument with a spouse or other family member — or felt that your safety was in danger — and you acted in response to that threat, you may be able to claim self-defense. Texas law allows individuals to take action, including physical force, to protect themselves. You also do not have to have been injured or physically assaulted to be able to use this defense strategy. It’s enough to have had reasonable fear for your safety.
An essential aspect of this defense strategy to remember is that to claim self-defense, the force you use to defend yourself generally needs to be proportional to the threat. If someone much smaller than you walked toward you aggressively and made threats but didn’t have a weapon or move to strike you, it could be challenging to claim self-defense if the other party was severely injured in the incident.
Lack of Evidence
Charges related to family violence in Texas, such as domestic assault or continuous violence against the family, are criminal charges. This means that the prosecution must connect the defendant to the alleged crime and prove that the defendant had the required intent to commit the offense — all beyond a reasonable doubt, which is the burden of proof in criminal cases. Family violence cases are notorious for being difficult to prosecute because they often involve allegations of actions that happened behind closed doors, where the only evidence is statements from the two parties involved.
If there’s not enough evidence to prove the case, an experienced defense attorney can argue that the case should be dismissed or show the weak spots in the prosecution’s case at trial. This strategy is often beneficial in cases where there is no history of previous allegations and there were no visible injuries on either party.
False Accusations
Allegations of family violence are incredibly serious. A conviction has the potential to affect every area of the defendant’s life, even after any sentence has been served. Unfortunately, some people use this to their advantage and falsely accuse a family member of domestic violence as a way to punish them or get back at them. These accusations are especially common when the parties are involved in a custody battle, where the presence of family violence can play a significant role in determining custody and parenting time.
Plea Bargain
Mistakes happen, and no one should be defined by some of the most difficult moments of their life. If there is significant evidence against the defendant or there is already a previous history of family violence, it may be in their best interests to negotiate a plea deal. In some cases, it may be possible to go through a diversion program or counseling in exchange for a reduced charge or a lesser sentence, such as probation only.
Fight Your Charges With an Experienced Family Violence Attorney
You should never ignore allegations of family violence, even if you know you’re innocent and being falsely accused. These charges can do permanent damage to your reputation and follow you for the rest of your life if you’re convicted. If you’ve been accused of hurting a family member, contact the team at Drehner Law. We serve those in and around the Houston area, and we have extensive experience fighting domestic violence allegations. Call our office at 832-626-0063 to schedule a free consultation to determine the right way to approach your case.
