Domestic Violence

Domestic violence is defined as a set of coercive and violent actions used to frighten and control a family member or an intimate partner. Domestic violence includes assault, sexual assault, threatening, stalking, strangling, and other charges involving individuals in a current or former domestic relationship. If you have experienced any of these, don’t hesitate to seek the help of a domestic violence lawyer in New York. 

New York law imposes harsh penalties for domestic violence crimes. For example, someone convicted of first-degree assault, a severe crime, may face five to twenty-five years in jail and a huge fine. Threatening in the second degree is considered a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year imprisonment and a fine.

Dealing with domestic violence can bring deep trauma, especially if it’s from someone you love and trust. A skilled domestic violence family law lawyer in New York can help you seek protection for you and your family. Call us at Donato Law to speak with a knowledgeable domestic violence attorney about your legal options today.

Domestic violence encompasses not only physical abuse but also psychological, verbal, and emotional. Non-physical abuse often escalates to physical abuse and even murder. Men may be victims of domestic violence in both same-sex and opposite-sex relationships. Recognizing the situation as abusive is a crucial step in ending an abusive or violent relationship. Domestic violence and abuse include:

• Your spouse threatens to leave you, threaten to kill themselves, or threaten to harm you.
• Stopping you from working or forcing you to beg for money.
• Sexual harassment
• Emotional abuse causes poor self-esteem, humiliation, and guilt or craziness.
• Isolating you from friends and limiting your exposure outside.
• Intimidating you by suggesting physical harm or damaging your possessions.
• Minimizing, denying, and blaming you for the abuse.

Due to the psychological component of domestic violence, many victims blame themselves for what happened, even though the issue is with their spouse. So, if you or anyone you know is in an abusive relationship, please don’t hesitate to seek legal help. Get in touch with our domestic violence attorneys and schedule a consultation.

In New York, you may bring family offenses, including assault, sexual abuse, and stalking charges in any or both courts. Civil charges may be filed in family court, while criminal charges are filed in criminal court. Victims of domestic abuse often seek orders of protection to prohibit offenders from contacting spouses or children who live nearby.

A domestic violence case may include a variety of separate charges. In New York, domestic violence pertains to crimes committed by:

• Individuals who are related by blood;
• Individuals married or in a domestic relationship;
• Individuals formerly married or in a domestic relationship;
• Individuals with children; and
• Individuals who used to be in an intimate relationship.

If you are a victim of domestic violence and are in imminent danger, please immediately call 911 to request police protection. You may also contact the national domestic violence hotline or a California domestic violence organization. For legal assistance, get in touch with a reliable California domestic violence attorney.

Domestic violence accusations are severe crimes in New York. If you’re a victim of domestic violence, here are some possible defenses that your abuser may use. Hire a New York domestic violence attorney to know how to counter these defenses and build a case against your domestic abuser.

In a domestic abuse case, the prosecution cannot convict if the burden of evidence is not met. Defense lawyers know how to find flaws/contradictions in the prosecutor’s case. Our NYC domestic violence attorney at Donato Law can assist you in gathering strong evidence for your case.

The defendant may argue that they are not the offender. It’s possible to establish this they have an alibi at the time of the physical offense. Witnesses may attest that they were not with the victim. If you have time-stamped pictures or videos to prove the violence, this may assist your case. Consult with our East Islip domestic violence attorneys to know how we can help you with your case.

A defendant may be falsely accused of motives unrelated to actual violence. This is common in divorce situations when one spouse fraudulently alleges abuse to get more money, custody, or revenge—finding discrepancies in the opponent’s narrative or having an alibi. In the circumstances like these, you must contact a New York domestic violence lawyer.

The accused may argue that they acted in self-defense. Defending oneself from an attack is an act of self-defense. However, it’s tougher to claim self-defense if they provoked violence through verbal threats or violent hand gestures. If someone presses their finger against you, calls you name, or threatens to hurt you, then they have tacitly assumed the position of an aggressor in the conflict and therefore welcomed aggression. It’s not self-defense if they incited violence.

When an individual is arrested in a domestic violence case in New York, a criminal court may issue a temporary restraining order. Courts often use discretion in deciding whether to apply them. If a court issues a permanent or temporary order of protection and the accused breaches the order, you may bring further criminal charges.

Temporary protective orders differ in New York. Nevertheless, under state law, they may compel an offender to:

• Maintain a safe distance from the victim’s home, school, or place of work.
• Maintain a safe distance from the home, school, or place of work of a particular witness.
• Permit visitation of young children in the offender’s care by a parent or any person having visitation privileges.
• Refrain from committing any crime against a family member.
• Avoid actions that place family members at an unreasonably high risk of damage.
• Permit selected individuals to access the offender’s residence to collect family members’ items

At Donato Law, our domestic violence attorney in East Islip, New York, represents victims of domestic violence, child abuse, and more. We will aggressively protect you and your family from the time you authorize us to start on your case. It can be challenging to live a regular life after experiencing domestic violence and abuse. Therefore, we will do all that we can to ensure the safety of you and your family.

If you need help with your divorce, legal separation, or child custody case, don’t hesitate to connect with our family law and divorce attorneys in New York. Call us now at (631) 920-3848 to learn more about how we can help protect your family.