False Domestic Violence Accusation and Perjury Prosecution

[davidsboe80]

My question involves restraining orders in the State of:Florida

Good Afternoon,

My soon-to-be ex-wife filed a frivolous domestic accusation against me. A temporary order was issued against me. I am in the process of preparing my defense for the domestic violence case and during this process, my lawyer deposed my wife, during the de position my wife presented several pictures which were addressing the alleged domestic violence episode. The pictures were not related to the domestic violence case, in fact, they were taken five months before the alleged incident. During the deposition and under oath, she reaffirmed that the pictures were taken right after the domestic violence episode. That's the only proof that she claims to have.

I was wondering what I can do in order to:

(1) Minimize any potential negative ramification that the domestic violence might have on myself. Needless to say, the episode has been embarrassing enough since the police went to serve me at my condominium, my office, my country-club, and my gym since I was traveling on business for two weeks until I went to pick up the servicing documents at the police station. Furthermore, it seems that the case is moving beyond the civil stage since I received a call from a police officer that claimed that there was a new development and that an officer wanted to talk to me and he was extremely vague when I asked me what the new development was and whether or not I should expect an arrest.
(2) Utilize the under-oat deposition in order to unleash all the legal consequences associated to committing perjury for my wife.

Needless to say, any help would be more than appreciated during this difficult and stressing times and I hope that any potential learnings could be used for others in a similar situation.

Best regards,

David

[aaron]

You posted this as being about the establishment of a protective order. Is that in fact what we're talking about? And there's a pending hearing on the entry of the order?

[davidsboe80]

That's correct, there is a temporary restraining order against me. There is also a pending hearing to determine whether or not the DV injection merits becoming permanent. In between and in order to prepare for the hearing, we deposed my soon-to-be ex-wife and we discovered that the evidence presented to sustain the case were two pictures that do not correspond to the alleged DV episode. She, under oath, stated that these two pictures were taken after the DV episode, but since they were sent to us on a digital format, we could see that the pictures were taken approximately 5 months before the DV episode. During the deposition she realized of her fabrication and, therefore, myself and my lawyer are speculating that she might drop the case and/or no show at the hearing since the judge for the DV is the same than the one dealing with the dissolution of marriage case. Until this scenario, what is your recommendation to prosecute my wife for perjury? Thanks, D

[llworking]

That's correct, there is a temporary restraining order against me. There is also a pending hearing to determine whether or not the DV injection merits becoming permanent. In between and in order to prepare for the hearing, we deposed my soon-to-be ex-wife and we discovered that the evidence presented to sustain the case were two pictures that do not correspond to the alleged DV episode. She, under oath, stated that these two pictures were taken after the DV episode, but since they were sent to us on a digital format, we could see that the pictures were taken approximately 5 months before the DV episode. During the deposition she realized of her fabrication and, therefore, myself and my lawyer are speculating that she might drop the case and/or no show at the hearing since the judge for the DV is the same than the one dealing with the dissolution of marriage case. Until this scenario, what is your recommendation to prosecute my wife for perjury? Thanks, D

It depends on what you want to accomplish. Does your attorney somehow feel that a conviction for perjury will help in your divorce case? Honestly its often difficult to get a DA to prosecute a perjury charge when a divorce is involved. They often don't consider it worth their time or effort...and if a DA won't proceed with a perjury charge, then that is it.

[davidsboe80]

It would obviously help, especially since the reputation of the other party would have been greatly reduced and the fact that one person is abusing the system to gain an unfair advantage in order to monetize the case during the mediation process would negatively affect her perception to the case.
I am already familiar with the limited chances of having a DA prosecuting the case, but I am willing to go the extra mile to present the case in the most compelling way in order to increase its attractiveness and, also, to retain appropriate counsel in order to help me navigate this process. That being said, I am not originally from the US and I find extremely disturbing that one of the pillars of the judicial system is so highly neglected by DAs. I guess those victims of false and fabricated DV accusations should lobby harder to have their situations heard out and to make sure that appropriate punishment is enforced in order to reduce the incentives to abuse the system.

[llworking]

It would obviously help, especially since the reputation of the other party would have been greatly reduced and the fact that one person is abusing the system to gain an unfair advantage in order to monetize the case during the mediation process would negatively affect her perception to the case.
I am already familiar with the limited chances of having a DA prosecuting the case, but I am willing to go the extra mile to present the case in the most compelling way in order to increase its attractiveness and, also, to retain appropriate counsel in order to help me navigate this process. That being said, I am not originally from the US and I find extremely disturbing that one of the pillars of the judicial system is so highly neglected by DAs. I guess those victims of false and fabricated DV accusations should lobby harder to have their situations heard out and to make sure that appropriate punishment is enforced in order to reduce the incentives to abuse the system.

The thing is, is that if you can prove she lied, you won't end up with any kind of DV charge or restraining order. That is how the justice system disposes of the case. If it actually causes you reputational damage, then you potentially have grounds for a civil suit. However, a DA would be reluctant to tie up the time and money of the criminal justice system to prosecute a perjury case in a situation like this one. Their systems are overburdened as they are.

[davidsboe80]

You are right, at this juncture, my lawyer and myself feel extremely confident that the DV case will be rather detrimental to the other party. However and unfortunately, the damage has already been done: it has caused me extraordinary reputational damage, monetary damage and it has had a very negative impact on my career. I know how the criminal justice is overburdened and a DV perjury case might not be the most attractive option to allocate their scarce resources, that is why I was thinking about suing of her for abuse of power, malicious prosecution or whatever the best legal avenue is to prosecute this particular case. That being said, I still think that putting this forward with the DA would not hurt me and, who knows, the DA might be enticed to take on the case.

[Mr. Knowitall]

You are free to provide whatever information you wish to provide to the prosecutor, in the hope that the prosecutor will commence a perjury charge. If you don't prevail in your hearing (i.e., the court decides that the allegations are true) you should expect that nothing will happen. If you prevail in the hearing, as llworking indicates, the odds of a prosecution for perjury would still be very, very low due to allocation of resources. You should talk to your lawyer about this issue. You should also expect that the prosecutor will do nothing while the petition for the restraining order is pending - it's on you to prevail at the hearing.

[davidsboe80]

thanks for the further clarification. I understand the premise of limited resources, but it is still really frustrating that individuals can fabricate false evidence and get away with it without any negative ramification towards them. That being said, I hope that there is some other legal avenue to try to pursue this issue such as the figures I mentioned on my previous post: malicious prosecution, abuse of power, etc. My lawyer is family lawyer and I am looking for the right kind of counsel to get this started.

On another note, we deposed my soon-to-be ex-wife before the hearing in order to prepare my defense and she and her lawyer might have now realized that the accusations could back fire against them and myself and my legal counsel are speculating that they might not show at the hearing, since the fabrications will be exposed in a rather painful fashion to their cause. If this situation were to materialize and the DV case is dismissed on the grounds that the other party did not show, does this development affect my ability to pursue this case both with the DA and through the other avenues mentioned above?

Thanks very much for your helpful comments in these difficult times