No Priors, Harsh Sentence

[ghostvox]

My wife and I had a "domestic dispute" in October 2006, in a small town in southern Colorado. A family member called the police (5 days after the "dispute") after talking to my wife about it. My wife explained to the police that she was only seeking advice but the officer insisted that he must make an arrest for "assault". I was arrested and sat in jail for 6 days waiting to see a judge because "domestic violence" offenders don't bond out until they see a judge. I have never been arrested before, I had a clean record, no priors. I admit, "slapping" my wife was wrong but I feel what happened to me was extreme. My wife stood up for me in court saying she didn't want to press charges and that the state acted against her wishes. The judge modified the restraining order against me from my wife and 4 year old daughter. I was released, but ended up facing 1 year probation, 48 hours of community service and a DV evaluation and Classes. After the DV eval, the evaluator determined I was "low risk". I finished my community service and applied for a transfer to Virginia to take a job. The transfer was disapproved, but I was given permission to leave Colorado to pursue this position in Virginia. We arrived in Virginia and shortly after I opted to return to my job overseas from which I was on leave without pay for a year to "seek options" in my country. Without much thought, we all left.

Things were going well until I received an email recently from my Probation Officer (six months later). The email basically stated my probation status was "supervised" and "unsupervised" status was not approved. A warrant for my arrest will soon be issued.

This entire insident has put more strain and stress on my family rather than "helped" as the state would think. If my wife didn't want to press charges in the first place, why interfere? Why was I arrested 5 days after the incident? I read somewhere that these "incidents" need to be reported within 72 hours in order for action to be taken. If I have no priors or criminal record, why was my sentence so extreme? Could I have this case reviewed and overturned? Incidently the DA that handled my sentence was fired shortly after for some kind of fraud.

Please advise, if any further details are needed, please let me know. Thanks!

[Mr. Knowitall]

You committed a crime, and the state can prosecute you for that even if the victim doesn't want that to occur. Probation is not an "extreme" sentence.