An individual charged with the California domestic violence crime of infliction of injury faces a felony that is punishable by up to four years in prison and a $6,000 fine. This charge may be filed if an individual willfully inflicts an injury upon his or her intimate partner, which, in a GLBT relationship, is a person’s partner or former partner in a civil union, the person with whom one lives or lived or the person with whom one has children.

Because of the intimate nature of domestic abuse, most violent situations occur outside the presence of witnesses. As a result, many infliction of injury cases are based only on allegations between the accuser and the accused. Eyewitnesses, therefore, play a vital role in helping to prove or disprove an alleged victim’s charge of abuse.

The job of an eyewitness is to simply tell the judge and/or jury what he or she saw with no inherent bias. Easily said, rarely done. Eyewitnesses almost always have a bias either for or against one of the parties, depending on his or her relationship with them. As a result, the truth generally gets lost in translation.

There is a common misconception that a witness testifies for either the prosecution or for the defense, but that is truly not the case. Since both parties have a chance to examine the witness, witnesses essentially testify for both parties. A skilled criminal defense lawyer knows how to take an eyewitness who is presented by the prosecution and turn him or her into a witness who ultimately helps prove the defendant’s version of the events. Similarly, a good defense attorney will invest time in preparing an eyewitness that he or she intends to “put on the stand” in order to try to make sure that he or she is comfortable with answering questions and to ensure that the witness doesn’t get tripped up by the prosecutor’s cross-examination.

Infliction of injury cases are usually based on a highly charged, emotional incident that unfortunately took a turn for the worse. This means that even if there was an eyewitness to the account, that individual may not have witnessed all the events that led to the charged incident and may not have the accurate back-story on what took place before the charged incident. It is the attorney’s job to make sure that this type of information gets relayed to the jury. The GLBT supportive, experienced attorneys at the Kavinoky Law Firm have successfully defended countless individuals who faced infliction of injury charges. They are familiar with all aspects of California’s intimate partner abuse laws and know how to skillfully examine their own witnesses in ways that are beneficial to their clients and how to effectively cross-examine adverse witnesses to bring out and highlight discrepancies in their accounts that may otherwise be overlooked.

An eyewitness could potentially be the kiss of death to a defendant facing a domestic abuse charge. When facing an infliction of injury charge (especially when there was an eyewitness), it becomes even more critical for the accused to hire an attorney who is competent and experienced in handling witness preparation and who excels in cross-examination. The gay friendly attorneys at the Kavinoky Law Firm know how to handle different witnesses under a variety of circumstances. Keeping the jury in mind, they know when it is appropriate to examine a witness with care and compassion and they know when it is appropriate to “take the gloves off” to aggressively attack. They also understand the unfortunate reality that many jurors will be indifferent towards or intolerant of a same sex domestic violence case and will conduct their examinations in a way that will hopefully make a jury relate to their LGBT client. Contact them today for a free consultation and for the very best representation.