Court Appointed Lawyers
In a domestic violence criminal case you have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford to hire your own attorney, and in addition pay investigator and sometimes an expert witness’s fees, the judge will appoint a lawyer to represent you free of charge. In San Francisco, a Public Defender attorneys will be in court to represent you the first day you appear. In San Mateo County by comparison the first person a defendant sees is the courtroom bailiff from the Sheriff’s Department who hands them a complaint without the police report. Bailiffs there have been know to ask, “Do you want to plead guilty? You might as well.” In San Francisco the Public Defenders make an announcement about the dangers of self-representation and warn defendants not to represent themselves.
The judge may conduct a fee hearing when your case is over to see if you can pay all or part of your legal costs. If you earn over $900.00 a month you probably will have to spend at least $2,500.00 to hire your own attorney, twice that if your case goes to trial that can take up to a week or longer. Investigation costs can easily be another $1,000.00 and if you have need to hire a domestic violence expert you pay the psychologist’s professional fee.
In many cases the San Francisco Public Defenders will do a good job of representing you. They are on your side and don’t conspire with D.A.’s. Defenses are not always obvious from reading police reports that only contain the arresting officer’s version of the facts. Public Defenders in the domestic violence court are busy. You can’t expect them to answer all your questions while they are working in court. Make an appointment to see your public defender at their office at 555 7th Street. These lawyers handle over one hundred and twenty cases at the same time. They will pay more attention to your case if you go meet with them in person.
Defending domestic violence cases requires early front-end investigation of the facts in each case. The Public Defender’s office does not have the resources to investigate each case from the start. The office has only about five investigators to work on thousands of cases, from felony murder investigations on down. It is vital that an investigator talk to the witnesses as early as possible to gather initial statements because often witnesses’ statements become more damaging at trial. Some attorneys call the victim and other witnesses themselves, but what if these witnesses say something helpful to you that they later deny saying, or later change their story? Then your lawyer becomes a witness in your case, which is a problem. Only an investigator should be talking to the victim and witnesses.
Experienced Domestic Violence Lawyer
The stakes are high in a California domestic violence case. A criminal conviction for domestic battery or criminal threats in California may result in jail, large fines, mandatory domestic violence counseling sessions which meet weekly for one year, mandatory alcohol education classes, personal conduct orders, stay away orders, temporary restraining orders, and other punishment. For that reason, it is critical that that a person charged with domestic assault, domestic battery, criminal threats or stalking have only a qualified domestic violence defense lawyer to handle the case from the earliest possible moment.
Robert Tayac is recognized as being among the top domestic violence lawyers in California and represents clients in criminal cases related to domestic violence, assault and battery, and applications for and responses to restraining orders. Attorneys, investigators and experts working with this highly specialized law office represent clients in the Northern California criminal courts located in San Francisco, San Mateo Marin, Alameda, Santa Clara, Contra Costa, Sonoma and Napa counties.
Additionally, lawyers of this law firm represent clients seeking or defending against temporary restraining orders and no harassment orders before the superior courts of San Francisco, San Rafael, Redwood City, South San Francisco, Napa, Oakland, Palo Alto, Walnut Creek, San Jose and Santa Rosa. The firm accepts only California domestic battery cases, California temporary restraining order actions or California driving under the influence cases.
Contact The Office
The stakes are high in a California domestic violence case. An arrest for domestic battery, domestic assault, criminal threats or stalking in California may result in actual jail, large fines, mandatory 52 weeek batterer's treatment program, mandatory alcohol education classes, and other punishment. For that reason, it is important that you have only a qualified California criminal defense lawyer handling your domestic violence case from the beginning. If you or someone you know has been or may be accused of domestic violence, we invite you to read the information contained in this website and welcome you to call our office and discuss your case with a domestic violence lawyer.
If you hire Robert Tayac to handle your domestic violence case, you will know your case is being properly handled by a knowledgeable, experienced, and trustworthy California criminal defense lawyer.