The prosecutors do have a difficult road to prosecuting many California domestic violence cases in Los Angeles. Often, what happens — and they are used to this — is that the alleged victim decides they don't want the person prosecuted.

So, now the prosecutors have to deal with somebody in their camp who is adverse to them and what they're trying to do.  Realize the prosecutors are simply trying to protect victims of domestic violence. They're trying to make sure that those who batter other individuals or hurt them are prosecuted and deterred from committing future domestic violence-related offenses.

With a focus on protecting the victim, prosecutors are undeterred by attempts to change the narrative. Even when the victim alters their story, a common challenge, prosecutors remain resolute.  They will continue to pursue the case, utilizing police statements to support their prosecution.

If the person gets on the witness stand, for example, and tries to change their story — tries to help the defendant in the case — the prosecutors will, of course, confront them and say, wait a minute, back then look, you've got a black eye, and you told the police that this person hit you.

Now, you're just trying to say this to help them because they're your only source of income, or they're the father of your child, whatever the case may be.

So, then the prosecutors will call the police officer who took the statement and say when you went out there and took the information, the person was crying, they had a black eye, they said that Bill is the one that hit them, and they gave a complete description of it.  Did they seem sincere to you?  Yes, they did.  So, you're not just going to lose the case because someone doesn't cooperate, but this is a problem for the prosecutors.

If someone is trying to take back domestic violence-related charges, it can sometimes work to the defendant's benefit.  Other times, it doesn't make a difference. Our Los Angeles criminal defense attorneys will explain further below.

Victim Doesn't Cooperate With Prosecutor

Another problem in prosecuting these domestic violence cases is that once the case is set for trial or if the case is set for a preliminary hearing in a felony, the alleged victim doesn't want to cooperate. They don't show up to the court proceedings. The fact that they try to evade trying to be served with a case so they don't have to appear creates another problem for the prosecutors in trying to prosecute these cases.

There is a case called People v. Crawford that allows prosecutors to use other evidence of the victim's statement instead of having the victim present live and in person. Sometimes, the police capture the statement on a bodycam.

While it's usually inadmissible, there are instances when prosecutors manage to present these statements as evidence against the defendant in domestic violence cases, a tactic that can work both ways.

On the one hand, the jury is scratching their head, saying, how come the alleged victim isn't here to tell us their story?  I don't know if I believe what this police officer tells me.  On the other hand, the defense doesn't get an opportunity to cross-examine the alleged victim or ask them any questions.  So, that makes it difficult as well.

So, you have to know the case well as a defense attorney and learn what it's going to take to defend it if you're going to take it to trial. Sometimes, the victim not showing up—though it is a problem for the prosecutors—can also be a problem for the defense.

Developing a Defense Strategy with an Attorney

So, prosecutors face all sorts of problems in handling these cases. Still, they're used to dealing with these problems, and they have countermeasures to try to deal with an uncooperative victim, for example, or other issues that may pop up in the case.

The best thing to do as a defendant and defense attorney is to coordinate together to develop a plan that best suits the case.  In other words, anticipate some of the problems the prosecutors are going to face in dealing with the case and figure out how you can best use those problems to your advantage to get the best result in your domestic violence case and make sure that you capitalize on those problems when they come up. Hopefully, those problems don't become your problems in the criminal case.