Los Angeles Domestic Violence Defense Lawyer

Los Angeles Domestic Violence Defense Lawyer

Police arrested you for domestic violence. Your wife called 911 during an argument. Police issued an Emergency Protective Order. You can’t go home. You can’t see your kids. You haven’t been charged yet. Court date is two weeks away. You’re terrified.

Thanks for visiting Spodek Law Group – a second generation law firm with over 50 years of combined experience. Our managing partner, Todd Spodek, has many, many, years of experience defending clients in high-profile cases covered by NY Post, Newsweek, and other national outlets – including Anna Delvey and juror misconduct allegations in the Ghislaine Maxwell trial. What qualifies as domestic violence in California, what penalties you face, whether you’ll get a restraining order, how to fight false accusations, and why you need a lawyer RIGHT NOW before the Los Angeles County District Attorney files charges.

What Charges Are

Corporal injury to a spouse under California Penal Code Section 273.5 criminalizes willfully inflicting physical injury on a spouse, cohabitant, dating partner, or parent of your child. The prosecution must prove you caused a traumatic condition resulting in visible injury. Bruises, cuts, scratches, black eyes.

Domestic battery under Penal Code Section 243(e)(1) criminalizes any harmful or offensive touching of an intimate partner. No visible injury required. Pushing your spouse qualifies. Grabbing your girlfriend’s arm qualifies.

Criminal threats under Penal Code Section 422 criminalizes threatening to kill or seriously injure an intimate partner. Text messages saying “I’ll kill you” can support a criminal threats charge.

Violation of a protective order under Penal Code Section 273.6 criminalizes knowingly violating the terms of an Emergency Protective Order, Temporary Restraining Order, or permanent restraining order. If the order prohibits contact and you send a text message, you violated the order. Violations are charged as separate crimes with additional jail time.

LAPD officers respond to domestic violence calls and follow a mandatory arrest policy. If officers have probable cause to believe domestic violence occurred, they must arrest someone. The alleged victim’s statement alone provides probable cause. Officers don’t need to see injuries. Officers don’t need to see evidence. The alleged victim says you hit them, and officers arrest you. Officers issue an Emergency Protective Order at the scene that prohibits you from returning home or contacting the alleged victim for 5-7 days.

Penalties

Corporal injury to a spouse under Penal Code Section 273.5 can be charged as a misdemeanor or felony. Misdemeanor corporal injury carries up to one year in county jail and fines up to $6,000. Felony corporal injury carries two, three, or four years in state prison and fines up to $6,000. If you have a prior domestic violence conviction within seven years, penalties increase to two, four, or five years in state prison and fines up to $10,000.

Domestic battery under Penal Code Section 243(e)(1) is typically charged as a misdemeanor carrying up to one year in county jail and fines up to $2,000. Violation of a protective order under Penal Code Section 273.6 can be charged as a misdemeanor or felony. Misdemeanor violations carry up to one year in county jail and fines up to $1,000. Felony violations carry up to three years in state prison. Every contact with the protected person is a separate violation. If you send ten text messages to your ex-girlfriend after a restraining order is issued, you committed ten separate violations. When police arrest you for domestic violence, they issue an Emergency Protective Order under California Family Code Section 6320. The EPO lasts 5-7 days. After the EPO expires, the alleged victim can file for a Temporary Restraining Order. The TRO lasts 15-25 days until a hearing. At the hearing, the judge decides whether to issue a permanent restraining order. The permanent order can last up to ten years. Restraining orders carry devastating consequences. You cannot return to your home if you share a residence with the alleged victim. You cannot contact the alleged victim by phone, text, email, or social media. You cannot go within 100 yards of the alleged victim’s home, workplace, or children’s school. You lose custody and visitation rights with your children. The family court uses the restraining order as evidence that you’re a danger to your children.

California imposes a lifetime firearm ban for domestic violence convictions. Before January 1, 2019, the firearm ban lasted ten years. Now it’s lifetime. You must surrender all firearms within 24 hours of conviction. Lifetime ban. Courts impose mandatory participation in a 52-week Batterers’ Intervention Program. One year. Fifty-two weeks. You pay for the classes yourself, typically $25-50 per session. If you miss classes, the court can revoke your probation and sentence you to jail. Completing the program is a condition of probation.

False Accusations

False domestic violence accusations are epidemic. Divorce attorneys advise clients to file domestic violence claims to gain advantage in child custody proceedings. A restraining order gives the alleged victim temporary custody of the children. You’re fighting from behind. The alleged victim has the kids. You’re trying to prove you’re not a danger. The family court presumes the restraining order means you’re dangerous.

Relationships end badly and people seek revenge. Your ex-girlfriend knows a domestic violence accusation will get you arrested immediately. She knows police will believe her statement without evidence. She knows you’ll be kicked out of your home and lose contact with your children. One phone call to 911 destroys your life. The accusation doesn’t need to be true.

LAPD officers follow mandatory arrest policies that remove officer discretion. If an alleged victim says you hit them, officers arrest you. Officers don’t investigate whether the accusation is true. Officers don’t look for evidence. The mandatory arrest policy was designed to protect domestic violence victims but it enables false accusations. Epidemic. There’s no penalty for making a false accusation.

Common defenses include false accusation, self-defense, mutual combat, lack of evidence, and accidental injury. The false accusation defense focuses on the alleged victim’s motive to lie. Your attorney investigates whether the alleged victim is involved in a custody dispute with you, whether you recently ended the relationship, whether the alleged victim has made false accusations against others.

Self-defense applies when you used reasonable force to protect yourself from the alleged victim’s attack. If your partner attacked you first and you pushed them away to defend yourself, you committed no crime. The prosecution must prove you were the primary aggressor. Many domestic violence cases involve mutual combat but only one person gets arrested because the alleged victim called 911 first.

Many domestic violence cases rely entirely on the alleged victim’s testimony. If there are no witnesses, no injuries, no 911 call recording, and no text messages corroborating the accusation, the case becomes “he said/she said.” The alleged victim’s credibility becomes the central issue.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Domestic Violence Unit prosecutes domestic violence cases even when the alleged victim recants and asks the prosecutor to drop charges. The DA’s office follows an evidence-based prosecution model. Prosecutors use 911 call recordings, photographs of injuries taken by police, body camera footage. The alleged victim cannot make the case go away by refusing to cooperate.

Why Lawyer NOW

You need a criminal defense attorney immediately after arrest, before the Los Angeles County District Attorney files charges. The DA files charges 10-14 days after arrest. Your attorney collects exculpatory evidence showing the accusation is false. This includes photographs showing you have injuries the alleged victim inflicted, text messages from the alleged victim threatening to “call the cops on you,” emails discussing custody disputes.

Your attorney presents this evidence to the assigned deputy district attorney before the filing decision. If the evidence clearly shows false accusation or self-defense, the DA may decline to file charges. Once charges are filed, getting them dismissed becomes much more difficult and expensive. Early attorney involvement can stop the case before it starts.

Your attorney can file a motion to modify the Emergency Protective Order or Temporary Restraining Order to allow peaceful contact with your children. The standard EPO prohibits all contact including contact with children who live with the alleged victim. This means you cannot see your children for weeks until the restraining order hearing. You cannot see your kids. You cannot go home. You cannot fix this without an attorney. Without an attorney, you’re separated from your children until the hearing.

The biggest misconception defendants have is “the victim said they don’t want to press charges, so the case will be dropped.” The victim doesn’t decide whether to press charges. The prosecutor decides. In Los Angeles County, the Domestic Violence Unit aggressively prosecutes cases even when victims recant. Your attorney needs to show the prosecutor that the evidence doesn’t support conviction, not that the victim wants charges dropped.

You have constitutional rights under the Fourth Amendment against unlawful arrest and the Sixth Amendment right to counsel. These rights only protect you if you invoke them. Don’t make statements to LAPD officers at the scene. Don’t make statements to detectives who contact you after arrest. Every statement you make will be used against you.

Unlike other law firms who maintain relationships with prosecutors and encourage clients to accept plea deals, Spodek Law Group fights aggressively for dismissal or acquittal. We challenge unlawful arrests. We suppress statements taken in violation of Miranda warnings. We present exculpatory evidence to prosecutors before charges are filed. We force prosecutors to prove every element of their case beyond a reasonable doubt. We are available 24/7 for a risk-free consultation.

Don’t make statements to LAPD. Don’t make statements to DA. Don’t make statements. Call us. 212-300-5196.