Domestic Violence

Domestic violence charges are some of the most upsetting charges that people can face.  Perhaps these are false allegations arising from a custody dispute.  Perhaps there was a physical altercation when both of you had too much to drink.  Maybe you want nothing to do with each other.  Maybe you want to reconcile.  Maybe there are children involved.  A lot of times nobody wanted charges to be laid in the first place.  We almost always see bail conditions that prohibit you from going to your own house or having any contact with your spouse.  Sometimes there is also an Emergency Protection Order in place.

Often the first step in defending these cases is trying to change the bail conditions so that you may be able to go back home or at least have contact with your spouse.  We recognize that these bail conditions are a complete disruption to your way of life.  You may be incurring increased living expenses to live separately from your spouse.  You may need to contact your spouse to make parenting arrangements.  We proactively work with the Crown prosecutor to amend your bail conditions by consent if possible or if not we can appeal your bail conditions to a higher court.

When facing domestic violence charges, it often helps to attend for anger management or domestic violence counselling.  Two programs that we recommend that are widely recognized by the Court are YWCA counselling and the Calgary Counselling Centre "turn for the better" program.  Taking counselling is not an admission of guilt and can only help your case.  Counselling can also help us to get your bail conditions changed.

As in every criminal case we take the time to thoroughly review your disclosure to find any potential defences to your charges.  We also review with you all of your options.  Perhaps your objective is to avoid a criminal record.  Perhaps you strongly desire to refute these allegations in trial.  We will discuss the benefits and drawbacks to all of the various options that may be available to you and you make the decision because this is your case.  Some of the various outcomes are described in the table below: