Pressing Charges Over a Broken Arm

My question involves criminal law for the state of: PA

This all happened around Nov 2004. Me and my BF were living together, it was an abusive relationship, and he swung at me and broke my arm. He didn't mean to break it, although he certainly meant to hit me. At the time he seemed really sorry, and I didn't press charges. We both lived there through Aug 2005.

Then we both moved to another state, and although he never touched me again, things fell apart, and we broke up. I regret not having pressed charges.

Is there anything I can do about it now?

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Quoting chickinPA

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My question involves criminal law for the state of: PA

This all happened around Nov 2004. Me and my BF were living together, it was an abusive relationship, and he swung at me and broke my arm. He didn't mean to break it, although he certainly meant to hit me. At the time he seemed really sorry, and I didn't press charges. We both lived there through Aug 2005.

Then we both moved to another state, and although he never touched me again, things fell apart, and we broke up. I regret not having pressed charges.

Is there anything I can do about it now?

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without checking the statute of limitations to be sure, I would say no. The statute of limitations in most states is generally around 1 year for a crime of this magnitude plus the fact you did nothing at the time would make the DA's office very reluctant to attempt to prosecute now.

Time to move on with your life.

An unfortunate common dynamic in abusive relationships is that victims often want a lot of things; they want change, they want the violence to stop, they want things to get better - but what they often DON'T want, at least at the time, is for the offender to get in trouble or be held accountable. Unfortunately, without THAT happening, most of the other things won't often change either. In PA, best case scenario, the DA would have had 2 years to pursue the case in criminal court, and you'd have had a year to pursue it in civil court for damages or to file a victim compensation claim (which also would have required your participation in the criminal case).

Wouldn't this qualify as aggravated assault? He broke my arm, and I had to have surgery to correct it, which has left a permanent scar. I thought the statute of limitations was longer for criminal offenses, and that the clock stopped ticking once you moved out of the state (i.e. only 2 years passed).

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Quoting chickinPA

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Wouldn't this qualify as aggravated assault? He broke my arm, and I had to have surgery to correct it, which has left a permanent scar. I thought the statute of limitations was longer for criminal offenses, and that the clock stopped ticking once you moved out of the state (i.e. only 2 years passed).

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then call the local DA and report it to them and ask if they will file charges against him.

expect to be turned down.

You can attempt to get the police to reopen the case. You can try to convince them that the assault wasn't just a simple misdemeanor assault, but due to the extent of injuries should be considered a felony battery. If they had originally classified the battery as a felony, it usually wouldn't have mattered if you wanted to press charges or not - they would have pursued it even if you begged and pleaded with them NOT to (as is so often the case in DV situations). That you moved out of state is really irrelevent - because the crime was REPORTED at the time and the SOL runs from the reporting time forward (or in the case of warrants, from the issuing time forward, but since the case wasn't pursued, there was no warrant issued either). Just be aware that ultimately the decision as to whether or not criminal charges will be brought will rest solely with the DA's office, and they tend NOT to reopen cases that have aleady been closed once at the behest of the victim, especially this long after the fact, even IF the criminal SOL would allow them to do so.

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Quoting aardvarc

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You can attempt to get the police to reopen the case. You can try to convince them that the assault wasn't just a simple misdemeanor assault, but due to the extent of injuries should be considered a felony battery. If they had originally classified the battery as a felony, it usually wouldn't have mattered if you wanted to press charges or not - they would have pursued it even if you begged and pleaded with them NOT to (as is so often the case in DV situations). That you moved out of state is really irrelevent - because the crime was REPORTED at the time and the SOL runs from the reporting time forward (or in the case of warrants, from the issuing time forward, but since the case wasn't pursued, there was no warrant issued either). Just be aware that ultimately the decision as to whether or not criminal charges will be brought will rest solely with the DA's office, and they tend NOT to reopen cases that have aleady been closed once at the behest of the victim, especially this long after the fact, even IF the criminal SOL would allow them to do so.

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The crime was never reported. Does this change anything?

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Quoting chickinPA

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The crime was never reported. Does this change anything?

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Uh, ya. It totally removes any chance of anything happening.

Given the time delay, I do not see any reasonable expectation that the police will pursue this aggressively or that a prosecutor will go to trial with it even if the SOL has not expired.

Sorry, but this will be seen as the "sour grapes" of a spurned lover and will likely have "reasonable doubt" written all over it.

It is horrible what he did to you, but if you believed it was an accident 4 years ago, the passage of time does not make it something else because you are now mad at him. Since the FACTS did not change, what will you tell the police is different now? Did you tell them a different story at the time? if so, and now you try to change it, the defense would make you out as a liar because you were either lying then or you are lying now.

Unfortunately, he got away with it. You were complicit in his actions. It is time to move on, learn from this, and pick a man who will respect you next time.

Good luck, and God Bless.

- Carl

- carl