Dedicated Domestic Violence Defense Attorney Serving Wisconsin

No rational person condones violence toward anyone, particularly a family member or intimate partner. In America there are many tragic domestic relationships that involve battered men, women, and children. A true victim in a violent intimate relationship needs immediate support and protection. A true batterer needs to face the legal consequences of their actions.

But the term "batterer" is commonly misused in domestic violence debates. Battering does not refer to an argument without the intentional infliction of bodily harm, nor does it mean the occasional arguments that many couples have that may grow to yelling at each other.

With "Zero Tolerance" arrest policies and "No Drop" prosecutions, the number of arrests for petty family arguments has skyrocketed. A former prosecuting attorney explains the phenomena:

"Christopher Pagan, who was until recently a prosecutor in Hamilton County, Ohio, estimates that due to a 1994 state law requiring police on a domestic call either to make an arrest or to file a report explaining why a no arrest was made, "domestics " went from 10 percent to 40 percent of his docket. But, he suggests, that doesn't mean actual abusers were coming to his attention more often. "We started getting a lot of push-and-shoves," says Pagan, "or even yelling matches. " In the past, police officers would intervene and separate the parties to let them cool off. Now those cases end up in criminal courts. It's exacerbating tensions between the parties, and it's turning law-abiding middle class citizens into criminals."  Cathy Young, Domestic Violations, Reason Magazine, April 1998

If you are accused of this crime, you should seek the advice of a Paul Ksicinski at www.paulksicinskilaw.com or 414-530-5214 since he is skilled at defending domestic abuse  cases in Wisconsin. A conviction can carry serious penalties that can affect the rest of your life. Attorney Paul Ksicinski has served as a public defender for many years and received the Wisconsin Public Defender Performance Recognition Award for his service to his clients accused of domestic violence offenses. If you are charged with domestic violence, Mr. Ksicinski can help you protect your reputation and your freedom.

Domestic Abuse and Restraining Orders

A police officer is often required to take into custody anyone whom the officer reasonably believes has committed this crime in situations such as when continued abuse is likely or the victim has suffered physical injuries. In fact, mandatory domestic violence arrest policies may actually increase the incidence of violence in some women's lives.  Lawrence W. Sherman, Policing Domestic Violence: Experiments and Dilemmas 3 (1992); Barbara Hart, Battered Women and the Criminal Justice System, 36 AM. BEHAV. SCIENTIST 624, 626 (1993).  In 1992, Lawrence Sherman conducted a study in the City of Milwaukee on the effects of arrest on batterers. Lawrence W. Sherman, Janell D. Schmidt, Dennis P. Rogan, Douglas A. Smith, Patrick R. Gartin, Ellen G. Cohn, Dean J. Collins & Anthony R. Bacich, The Variable Effects of Arrest on Criminal Careers: The Milwaukee Domestic Violence Experiment, 83 J. CRIM. L. & CRIMINOLOGY 137 (1992).  The study design recognized three possible interventions: full arrest, short arrest, and no arrest (with a warning if police were called back).  Id., at 147.  Sherman found that full or short arrest had a short‑ term deterrent effect.  Id., at 152‑53.  However, over the long term there was a trend that violence increased in cases in which the perpetrator had been arrested. The frequency of repeat violence increased when the persons arrested were unemployed, unmarried, high school dropouts or African‑American.  Id., at 158‑63. 

Violence decreased when the persons arrested were employed, married, and white.  Sherman concluded that when Milwaukee police arrest 10,000 African‑ American men, they produce 1803 more acts of domestic violence‑‑primarily against African‑American women‑‑in any given year than in cases in which the African‑American men are warned and not arrested.  When, on the other hand, Milwaukee police arrest 10,000 white men, they produce 2504 fewer acts of domestic violence against white women when compared to cases in which the white men are warned.  Sherman surmised that if three times as many African‑Americans as whites are arrested in Milwaukee (which would be typical given police practices in that city), a mandatory arrest policy would prevent 2504 acts of violence primarily against white women, at the price of 5409 acts of violence primarily against African‑American women.  Sherman concluded, based on this study, that mandatory arrest policies are highly problematic. Sherman et al., at 139.  Mandatory arrest is not a good policy when other options exist

A related crime is the violation of a restraining order. These orders, which are also called final injunctions, require one person to stay away from another person for up to four years. Victims of domestic violence often seek final injunctions and can receive temporary restraining orders while waiting for a hearing on a final injunction. For the purposes of a restraining order, domestic abuse extends beyond the criminal damage to include inflicting property damage. It also extends to a broader group of potential victims, including adult caregivers and people who are dating but not in a long-standing relationship.

No drop policies cause prosecutors to try domestic violence cases without the cooperation and/or testimony of the victim.  Such cases often have insufficient evidence to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.  In Wisconsin, no drop DV prosecutions should give one pause to wonder if alleged victims are really being treated with “courtesy and dignity” by courts and prosecutors as legislatively required when they recant and/or refuse to appear in court.  See, Wis. Stat. § 950.01.  Absent some good faith showing of improper influence upon the accuser or that the accuser is incompetent, the State should honor the request of the accuser to have a case dismissed when she[1] recants.  Merely because a domestic violence battery can be successfully prosecuted does not mean it should be prosecuted.  After all, an ethical prosecutor is not a zealot attempting to tack as many skins of DV defendants as possible to the wall.  Rather the ethical prosecutor is supposed to ensure a DV defendant has a fair trial and refrain from improper prosecutions that are calculated to produce a wrongful conviction.  Berger v. United States, 295 U.S. 78, 88(1935).

Violating the no-contact requirement after an arrest for domestic abuse can lead to a penalty of up to nine months in jail and a fine of up to $10,000. A person who violates a temporary restraining order may face a penalty of up to nine months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.

Incidents of domestic violence are punished as the crimes of which they consist. For example, someone arrested for domestic abuse may be convicted of battery, sexual assault, sexual abuse, intimidation, trespass, or harassment, among other crimes. Beyond the penalties for those crimes, a defendant involved in a domestic violence incident must pay a special fee of $100.

More importantly, a repeat domestic abuser may have their jail or prison sentences for the underlying crime extended by up to two years. A repeat domestic abuser is someone who either:

·         Commits an act of domestic abuse within 72 hours of being arrested for a domestic abuse incident; or

·         Has been previously convicted within the last 10 years of two crimes for which the court could impose the special domestic violence fee.

Facing Charges of Wisconsin Domestic Abuse Requires Legal Counsel

Beyond the specific penalties associated with this offense, a conviction of domestic violence can have significant long-term effects on your life. As a criminal defendant, you have a wide range of rights available to protect you from prosecution if you have been unjustly charged. Paul Ksicinski 35 years of experience and training has taught him how to defend ordinary people mistakenly accused of harming or trying to harm other people in their lives. You may not be aware of all your options, but we are available to discuss the details of your specific case and develop a legal strategy for you. Contact Paul Ksicinski at www.paulksicinskilaw.com or 414-530-5214

[1] ^{There are male victims to battery.  In fact there is a myth that every 10 or 12 seconds a woman is battered.  This alleged fact inflates estimates of domestic violence.  The National Institute of Justice and Center for Disease Control estimates that 1.3 million women and 835, 000 men are the victims of domestic violence each year.  Full Report of the Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of Violence Against Women (Ntl. Inst. Justice Nov. 2000) at iv.  There are 31, 536, 000 seconds in a year.   That means that every 21 seconds a woman is battered in America.  It also means every 38 seconds a man is battered in America.  While victim rights advocates point with pride the increased arrests for men accused of DV, they usually fail to mention the increase in women arrested for DV.  Carey Goldberg, Spouse Abuse Crackdown, Surprisingly, Nets Many Women, N.Y. Times, Nov. 23, 1999, at A16. Nevertheless, most prosecuted battery cases involve female accusers so the pronoun “she” will be used in this memorandum when discussing accusers or alleged victims unless specifically indicated otherwise.}