At the heart of domestic violence charges are fights between loved ones that escalated. A pervasive myth holds that the alleged domestic violence victim can just drop the charges, especially when they may have exaggerated the circumstances.
Can they drop the charges?
For better or worse, no.
Even if your spouse exaggerated the circumstances of the situation when they reported them to the police, they cannot drop the charges later on.
Even if they admit to police that they exaggerated, that does not mean that the district attorney will ultimately drop the charges.
Why would they keep the charges?
If the Texas police and district attorney do not believe the alleged victim’s revised version of events, then they can still keep the same charges, even if the victim entirely recants.
If they need your spouse’s testimony, they may compel it with threat of incarceration, or they may use other, non-testimony evidence to prove their case instead.
What can the alleged victim do?
They should consult with their own attorney and communicate with the police and district attorney through them. A victim’s truthful and ardent statement could convince a district attorney to drop or lessen charges, but that is usually only in conjunction with other evidence or mitigation.
Should I try to convince them?
Absolutely not.
Talk with your criminal defense attorney before doing or talking with anyone. However, your attorney will likely tell you not to speak with your alleged victim as this could be seen as victim intimidation, which could be a separate and additional chargeable offense.
This is why your spouse should speak through their attorney, who can speak to your attorney.
