Oftentimes there are no independent witnesses in battery and domestic battery situations—they are often "he said, she said" crimes. Police often rush in and charge one person hastily, without doing much investigation. Similarly, prosecutors sometimes do little investigation. This can result in the wrong person being charged with the battery crime.
The vast majority of the time in battery situations police will take pictures of the alleged victim's injuries and NOT take pictures of the defendant's injuries. Regardless of whether or not police took any pictures, be sure to have pictures taken of your injuries as soon as possible (either in jail or as soon as you're released). (If you are in jail an attorney or investigator may be able to meet with you and take the pictures.)
It is important to have pictures of defensive injuries so as your attorney can present them to the prosecutor or the jury (if the strategy involves going to trial) in order to help explain your side of the story.
It is best to have a defense investigator take the pictures. This way, if necessary, the investigator can testify that he or she took the pictures. This can be very important for evidentiary purposes when attempting to use the picture in a trial or hearing. It is also very important that the "time and date stamp" feature of the camera is turned on so that the picture is both time and date stamped.
The attorneys at Soler & Simon have prosecuted and defended hundreds of battery and domestic battery charges. If you would like to meet with an attorney for a free case evaluation, call Soler & Simon at (941) 444-5128.
Soler & Simon defend people charged with domestic violence related crimes. For more information on how we fight domestic battery cases, including defenses to domestic battery, please visit the Soler & Simon Domestic Battery page.
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