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Domestic Assault & Violence Lawyers Edmonton | Pringle Chivers Sparks Teskey

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DomesticThumping& Violence Lawyers Edmonton | Pringle Chivers Sparks Teskey lawyers@pringlelaw.ca(780) 424-8866MenuHome Our Lawyers Alexander Pringle, Q.C. (1947-2015) Dan Chivers Michael D. Sparks Kent J. Teskey, Q.C. Lindsay Tate Nicole J. Stewart Evan McIntyre Curtis Steeves Laura Matalas Stephen Brophy Vita Wensel (Student at Law) Practice Areas Impaired Driving Drug Offences Offences of Assualt Domestic Violence SexualThumping& Sexual Offences Administrative Licence Suspensions & Appeals Internet, Computers & Technology Crime Theft, Fraud & Financial Crime Firearms & Weapons Offences Criminal Appeals Info Articles What You Need to Know if the Police Want to Speak with You Sentencing & Sentencing Options For Students Alexander D. Pringle Memorial Scholarship Articling Student Program Areas We Serve Edmonton Camrose Central Alberta Fort McMurray Fort Saskatchewan Grande Prairie High Prairie Hinton Leduc Lloydminster Northern Alberta Peace River Red Deer Sherwood Park Southern Alberta St. Albert St. Paul Stony Plain Vermilion Wetaskiwin Fees Contact Domestic Violence Domestic thumping offences, and in particular, domestic violence offences, are some of the most worldwide charges dealt with in Alberta criminal courts. Allegations of family violence involve all types of relationships, all age groups, and all walks of life. Police and Crown prosecutors take allegations of domestic violence very seriously, and many people find themselves surpassing the courts for the first time as a result of an recrimination of domestic violence. Most often, when people refer to “domestic violence” they are talking well-nigh “spousal violence,” i.e., allegations that one domestic partner (for example, a husband, worldwide law spouse, or boyfriend) assaulted the other partner (for example, a wife, spouse, or girlfriend). The broader term “family violence” is moreover sometimes used, however, and whenever there is an recrimination that one family member has single-minded an offence versus flipside family member, the tuition is likely to be handled by the police and by the courts in a similar way. For example, if a parent is charged with assaulting his or her child, the recrimination will likely be handled by the same prosecutors and the same courtroom as an recrimination of spousal violence. The most worldwide criminal offence involving family members is “assault.”Oftenspeaking, an thumping is any non-consensual physical contact between two individuals. The contact can be uncontrived (e.g., striking someone with a fist) or indirect (e.g., throwing something at the person). If an object is used, a person may be charged with “assault with a weapon,” and if injuries result, a person may be charged with “assault causing bodily harm” or “aggravated assault.”Planeif there has been physical contact between two people, there are defences to assault. The most worldwide “defence” is consent. If two people stipulate to fight one another, and if bodily harm is not intended or caused, then the physical contact between the parties may not be an assault. A person may moreover have used physical gravity in self-defence or to defend a third party; these can moreover be defences to a tuition of assault. “Domestic” offences include increasingly than just assault, and may not involve any physical violence at all.Planeif offences involving family members do not involve physical violence, they will often be handled in a similar way by police and the courts. Some other worldwide offences that may involve family members include: Unlawful solitude (e.g. physically preventing a family member from leaving a residence), Mischief (e.g. intentionally rabble-rousing a family member’s property), Uttering threats (e.g. threatening to skiver or physically harm a family member), Sexual thumping (e.g. non-consensual physical touching of a sexual nature), and Criminal harassment (e.g. stalking a person by repeatedly pursuit them from place to place) and making harassing telephone calls. WHAT DO POLICE DO WHEN THERE IS A COMPLAINT OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE? Police officers often have limited discretion when they are deciding whether to lay charges. Many police services have formal or informal policies that require charges to be laid whenever a family member tells the police that they have been assaulted by flipside family member. As a result, when there is an recrimination of domestic violence, the accused person will usually be underdeveloped by police, and will usually be charged. Although the police may ask the family member whether they are interested in proceeding with charges, ultimately, it is not the family member’s visualization whether charges are laid. It is up to the police whether the person is charged, and it is up to the Crown prosecutor whether the charges proceed in court. The police can lay charges plane if the family member does not want charges to be filed. WHAT HAPPENS TO SOMEONE AFTER THEY ARE ARRESTED FOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE? When a person is underdeveloped and the police decide to proceed with charges, the police have two options: The police can release the person in mart for the person signing a piece of paper tabbed “Promise to Appear,” where the person promises to towards in magistrate at a later date, or, The police can decide to hold the person for a ladle hearing in front of a judge or a justice of the peace (JP). If a person is released on a Promise to Appear, the officers may moreover require that the person sign an “Undertaking to an Officer” in mart for stuff released from custody without having a ladle hearing. When a person signs an Undertaking, it imposes legally tightness conditions on the person. For example, the Undertaking may prohibit the person from returning to their family home, or prohibit the person from consuming alcohol. If a person has a ladle hearing in front of a justice of the peace, the police will tell the JP whether the police want the person to be held in custody, or whether they simply want the person to be released on unrepealable conditions. For most minor cases of domestic violence, where the person does not have a criminal record or any outstanding charges, the police will tell the JP that the person should be released, but on unrepealable conditions. If the police are opposed to release, the JP will decide whether or not the person should be released or held in custody. In most cases, the accused moreover has the option of delaying his or her ladle hearing and having a ladle hearing in front of a ProvincialMagistratejudge instead of a hearing in front of a JP. The person will be held in custody until they have a ladle hearing. This can sometimes be a good option if the police are opposed to release and the accused wants a endangerment to discuss the specimen in detail with a lawyer surpassing having a ladle hearing. If the JP decides to release the person, the JP will then decide if there are any conditions the person must follow when they are released. In a domestic violence case, it is worldwide for the JP to impose conditions that prohibit the person from returning to the family home, contacting the family members involved in the incident, consuming alcohol, or possessing weapons. The JP will moreover decide whether the person needs to post mazuma ladle surpassing they are released. If mazuma ladle is required, a person is not released until the ladle money is deposited with the ladle hearing office. In Alberta, ladle hearings in front of justices of the peace take place 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, by telephone or video link between the police station and a ladle hearing office in Edmonton or Calgary. For scrutinizingly all offences, the police must take a person surpassing a JP for a ladle hearing within 24 hours of their arrest. Unfortunately, it is not unusual for it to take 12 to 18 hours to have a ladle hearing in front of a JP. As a result, if the police trespassing a person for a domestic violence incident and hold them for a ladle hearing, it may be many hours surpassing they are released, and they may be kept in police cells overnight. WHEN IS A “NO-CONTACT CONDITION” IMPOSED, AND HOW CAN IT BE REMOVED? When there is an recrimination that one family member has single-minded an offence versus flipside family member, a “no-contact” condition is scrutinizingly unchangingly put in place. These orders usually prohibit the accused from having any contact or communication, directly or indirectly, with unrepealable family members. There is often moreover a condition that the person must not return to the family home. The accused is usually unliable to return on one occasion, in the presence of a police officer, to retrieve their property. A “no-contact” condition often prohibits both contact in person (e.g. meeting in a public place) and contact via telephone, email, or text message. In addition, these orders will often prohibit indirect contact, which includes asking a third party to pass messages between the accused and the complainant. It is a criminal offence for a person to violate a “no-contact” condition. If the police wilt enlightened that an accused person is violating this condition, the accused will usually be arrested. The police may then tell a JP that the accused should be denied ladle and held in custody until their matters are dealt with through the courts. This could result in a person remaining in custody for several months. Obviously, a “no-contact” condition can be very disruptive to a person’s life.Planerelatively minor charges can turn a person’s life upside down, requiring them to cut off contact with their family and find a new place to live. As a result, one of the first questions that accused persons and family members ask is whether a no-contact condition can be changed. It is possible to ask a magistrate to remove the no-contact order. It usually takes some time to unify these applications and it can often take as long as a few weeks. If the accused has a lawyer, the accused’s lawyer can make arrangements to wield to the magistrate to transpiration or remove the no-contact condition.Surpassingchanging a no-contact order, the prosecutor and the magistrate will consider the pursuit issues: What was the nature of the allegations? The increasingly serious the allegations, the increasingly concerned the magistrate will be well-nigh permitting contact. Does the family member want to have contact with the accused, and does the family member finger unscratched having contact with the accused? Does the person have a record for assaulting, threatening, or stalking a domestic partner or anyone else? Does the person have a history of violating magistrate orders or no-contact conditions? Has the person washed-up anything to write any swig or drug issues, mental health issues, or relationship issues? Does the person have wangle to firearms or any other weapons, and has the person overly threatened to use them? Does the family member understand their legal rights and responsibilities, and has the family member received translating well-nigh their rights? THE POLICE WANT TO SPEAK WITH ME ABOUT A DOMESTIC OFFENCE, AND THEY WANT ME TO COME DOWN TO THE STATION FOR A “MEETING.” WHAT SHOULD I DO? If you are stuff investigated for a domestic violence incident, you should unchangingly speak with a lawyer surpassing discussing the allegations with police – plane if you are completely innocent, plane if the police have not yet laid charges, and plane if there is “another side to the story.” A lawyer can requite you important translating well-nigh your legal rights and responsibilities surpassing you make a visualization that could stupefy your worthiness to defend yourself. WHAT IF THE COMPLAINANT OR VICTIM WANTS TO “DROP THE CHARGES”? A person who has personal that they have been assaulted by a family member is referred to as the “complainant.” Sometimes, the complainant wants a person underdeveloped or charged with an offence, but later on wants to “drop the charges.” In other cases, the complainant never wants charges laid, but the police decide to lay charges based on the information they have learned from the complainant or from other witnesses. It is important to understand that it is not the complainant who charges the accused, plane if the complainant was the person who tabbed the police. Technically, the charges filed by Her Majesty the Queen (i.e. the government) versus the accused.Consideringit is not the complainant who “presses charges,” only a Crown prosecutor can decide to withdraw the charges. A complainant is certainly unliable to tell the Crown prosecutor that they want the charges dropped. But the prosecutor may refuse to withdraw the charges, plane if the complainant does not want the charges to go ahead. A prosecutor may decide that it is in the public interest to prosecute the accused plane if the complainant wants the charges withdrawn. IF I AM A WITNESS OR COMPLAINANT IN A DOMESTIC VIOLENCE MATTER, DO I HAVE TO COOPERATE WITH THE POLICE OR THE CROWN PROSECUTOR? This is a complicated issue. Witnesses have some legal obligations. For example, if a person is properly served with a valid subpoena to shepherd magistrate as a witness, they are legally obligated to shepherd magistrate to testify. On the other hand, a witness may not have any obligation to requite a written or oral statement to a police officer. In order to fully understand their legal rights and responsibilities, complainants should consider obtaining self-sustaining legal translating (from a lawyer who is not involved in defending their family member). The lawyer who represents the accused family member often cannot requite any legal translating to the complainant considering this would be a mismatch of interest, but they often refer the complainant to flipside self-sustaining lawyer who can requite them advice. WHAT HAPPENS IN COURT AFTER A PERSON IS CHARGED WITH A DOMESTIC VIOLENCE OFFENCE? At the person’s first magistrate date, the judge will want to know if the accused is pleading guilty or not guilty, or needs increasingly time to review the specimen and speak with their lawyer. Most accused need increasingly time and are not prepared to enter a plea on their first magistrate appearance. If the person needs increasingly time, the specimen is usually temporized a few weeks to requite the person increasingly time to consider their position. If the accused has hired a lawyer, the lawyer can usually shepherd these preliminary appearances on their client’s behalf. The accused’s lawyer will moreover receive “disclosure” from the Crown Prosecutors’ Office. “Disclosure” is all of the information that the police and prosecutor have that could be relevant to the charges versus the accused. In a domestic violence case, this will often include a reprinting of any police notes or police reports, as well as any written, audio-taped, or videotaped statements taken by the police. Once the lawyer has reviewed the disclosure and discussed it with the accused, the accused will decide whether to plead guilty or not guilty. If the accused wants to plead guilty, the accused will need to come to magistrate with his or her lawyer and personize that they want to plead guilty. The Crown prosecutor will tell the judge well-nigh the circumstances of the offence. Then the accused’s lawyer can tell the judge anything that might help the accused receive a increasingly lenient sentence. The judge will then decide on a sentence. Sometimes, it is possible for the accused’s lawyer and the prosecutor to come to an try-on well-nigh a possible sentence in whop of pleading guilty, and suggest the same sentence to the judge. If the prosecutor and the accused do not stipulate on a sentence, each side will explain why it thinks its proposed sentence is increasingly reasonable. If the accused pleads not guilty, the charges will be set lanugo for a trial. The accused must shepherd his or her trial. Trial dates can be many months lanugo the road. While in theory a trial could take place as sort as six weeks without the first magistrate date, in some courthouses in Alberta it can take up to a year to find unbearable magistrate time for a trial. In Edmonton, most low complexity domestic violence trials are held between three and six months without the first magistrate appearance. Unless a person applies to the magistrate to transpiration their release conditions (e.g. a no-contact order), these conditions will stay in place until the charges are resolved without a trial. At a trial, the prosecutor will struggle to prove vastitude a reasonable doubt that the accused single-minded the offences charged. The prosecutor will first undeniability witnesses to try to prove the offence. Usually, the complainant and investigating police officers will be tabbed as witnesses by the Crown. The lawyer for the accused will have an opportunity to ask questions of these witnesses. Once the prosecutor has tabbed all of the Crown witnesses, the accused moreover has an opportunity to undeniability witnesses to testify. The accused himself or herself can segregate to testify, but does not need to do so. The prosecutor will moreover be worldly-wise to ask questions of any witnesses tabbed by the defence. Once both sides have tabbed their witnesses, the judge will decide whether the accused is guilty or not guilty. If the judge finds the accused guilty, the lawyers will then tell the judge what sentence they think the person should receive. If the judge finds the accused not guilty, the accused is self-ruling to go, and will not receive a criminal record as a result of that charge. WHAT ARE THE POSSIBLE SENTENCES FOR A DOMESTIC VIOLENCE OFFENCE IF AN ACCUSED IS FOUND GUILTY OR PLEADS GUILTY? Depending on the nature of the incident and the injuries (if any) to the victim, sentences for domestic violence offences range from a fine, to a period of probation, all the way up to lengthy jail sentences. Every specimen is variegated and depends on its own facts. Courts treat domestic violence offences seriously. Parliament and higher courts have told sentencing judges that they must treat a domestic relationship as a “relationship of trust,” which is an trying factor when imposing a sentence. This ways that punishments for domestic violence offences will often tend to be increasingly severe than punishments for similar offences where the offender and victim were not in a relationship of trust. It is not unusual for prosecutors to ask for jail sentences in cases of domestic violence. If a person receives a period of probation, the judge will impose unrepealable conditions on the person for the term of that probation.Worldwideprobation conditions include the following: To report to a probation officer, and to protract reporting to a probation officer as required by the probation officer, To not have any liaison or contact, directly or indirectly, with the victim (subject to any exceptions that might be added, such as contact in public or over the phone), To shepherd a domestic violence counseling program (such as the “Changing Ways” program), To withhold from possessing or consuming alcohol, and, To perform a unrepealable number of polity service hours. A conviction for a domestic violence offence will leave the accused with a life-long criminal record, unless the person later receives a criminal record suspension (formerly known as a pardon). A criminal record may stupefy the person’s worthiness to travel to other countries, and may show up on a criminal record trammels performed by potential employers. WHAT IS A “PEACE BOND,” AND WILL THE PROSECUTOR WITHDRAW THE CHARGES IF THE ACCUSED ENTERS INTO A “PEACE BOND”? For some less serious cases of domestic violence, where it is not in the public interest to proceed with charges, the Crown prosecutor may stipulate to withdraw the criminal charges versus the accused if the accused agrees to enter into a “peace bond.” A peace yoke is a magistrate order that requires a person to “keep the peace and be of good behaviour,” for a specified period of time. In some cases, a peace yoke will moreover order a person to comply with other conditions. The conditions can be very similar to the conditions of a probation order. For example, there could be a condition that the person must not have any contact with the complainant for a period of time, or a condition that the person must shepherd domestic violence counseling. Breaching the terms of a peace yoke is a criminal offence and can lead to criminal charges. In addition, breaching a peace yoke comes with a financial penalty, and can result in the person owing money to the government as a result of the breach. The major wholesomeness of a peace yoke is that, considering the person does not need to plead guilty to a criminal offence, the person does not receive a criminal record. While a peace yoke may show up on unrepealable kinds of “enhanced” police preliminaries checks (for example, a “vulnerable persons check”), it is not entered into the national criminal record database. It is important to remember that a Crown prosecutor does not need to offer an accused a peace bond. It is entirely within the discretion of the prosecutor whether they are willing to offer a “peace bond” to resolve a domestic violence charge. The accused’s lawyer cannot make the prosecutor offer a peace bond. A peace yoke is usually offered only in relatively minor cases, and plane then, only when the prosecutor is satisfied it is in the public interest to do so. It is not unusual for the prosecutor to refuse to resolve a domestic violence file with a peace yoke and insist that criminal charges proceed. A lawyer can requite translating well-nigh whether a peace yoke is a realistic option for an accused. WHAT IS AN “EMERGENCY PROTECTION ORDER”? In Alberta, the ProtectionVersusFamily Violence Act allows a family member to wield for an Emergency Protection Order (“EPO”). An EPO is a form of “restraining order.” A judge or justice of the peace can grant an EPO if they are satisfied that “family violence” has occurred. “Family violence” includes: An intentional or reckless act or omission that causes injury or property forfeiture and that intimidates or harms a family member, An act or threatened act that intimidates a family member by creating a reasonable fear of property forfeiture or injury to a family member, Forced confinement, Sexual abuse, and, Stalking. A family member can wield for an EPO without giving any notice to the other family member. If a JP or judge decides that an EPO should be issued, the JP will uncontrived that the other family member be served with a reprinting of the EPO. Usually, it is the police who will serve the other family member with a reprinting of the EPO. The JP will moreover decide on what conditions will wield to the EPO. Among other things, an EPO can prohibit a family member from having contact or liaison with other family members, and can prohibit the family member from staying at or going near the family home. Once a person is served with an EPO, they are legally required to obey the terms set out in that order. If a person breaches the terms of an EPO, they can be underdeveloped and charged with an offence.Withoutan EPO is issued, the EPO must be reviewed at a review hearing in theMagistrateof Queen’s Bench. At the hearing, a judge will decide whether the EPO should be confirmed or overturned. The review hearing stage will be printed on the EPO, and a review hearing must take place within 9 working days of when the EPO was granted. If a person wishes to object to an EPO and struggle to have it overturned, they should consider consulting with a lawyer for translating well-nigh how to do so. An EPO is separate from any criminal charges and involves separate processes. Often, if the police decide to proceed with criminal charges versus a family member, a complainant will not need to wield for an Emergency Protection Order considering the accused will once be prohibited from contacting the family member under the terms of the criminal release conditions. QUESTIONS ABOUT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE? If you have been charged with an offence involving a family member, domestic assault, or if the police have asked to speak with you well-nigh a domestic violence allegation, you should receive legal translating immediately. If you would like to speak with a lawyer with wide-stretching wits handling domestic violence cases at Pringle Chivers Sparks Teskey, please contact our office at (780) 424-8866. Contact Us (780) 424-8866lawyers@pringlelaw.ca Leave this Blank if are sentient Practice Areas Impaired Driving Drug Offences Offences of Assualt Domestic Violence SexualThumping& Sexual Offences Administrative Licence Suspensions & Appeals Internet, Computers & Technology Crime Theft, Fraud & Financial Crime Firearms & Weapons Offences Criminal Appeals Pringle Chivers Sparks Teskey300-10150 100 Street NW Edmonton, Alberta, T5J 0P6lawyers@pringlelaw.caUndeniabilityus 24/7: (780) 424-8866 Copyright © 2018 Pringle Chivers Sparks Teskey | Disclaimer Menu /* ----------------------------------------- */ /* Content Template: Template for Practice Areas - start */ /* ----------------------------------------- */ /* ----------------------------------------- */ /* Content Template: Template for Practice Areas - end */ /* ----------------------------------------- */