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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
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    1

    Default Appealing A "Family Violence Battery" Conviction From 7 Years Ago

    Hi all,
    I'm from Georgia, and looking for some advice/help in appealing a "Family Violence Battery" case that happened in December of 2000. My main issue with this is that it resulted in me being a felon. Or, I'm assuming this was the cause anyways as I received a letter after trying to register to vote in 2006 saying that my application had been rejected because I had been convicted of a felony. My actual charges from this case were 1 for "Family Violence Battery", and 2 charges of "Simple Battery". All 3 charges resulted from the same night and same incident with my ex-girlfriend. I do not remember being told in court that it was a felony, though with it being 7 years ago, I may just not remember that part. When I went to court to plead not guilty, I stupidly went ahead with the "trial" (and I use that term loosely) that day without representation, thinking that the judge would be reasonable when they heard what happened. I was convicted and sentenced to a year of probation and violence counseling classes, both of which were completed. Other than a minor traffic ticket, I have not had any convictions or arrests since this date, and this should be the only incident of any type of violence on my record.

    Now I'm just wanting to find out if it is still possible to appeal this, or at least somehow get the "felon" mark off of my record. Is this something fairly common that I should have a good chance of rectifying, or should I not waste my time/money with it?
    If anyone happens to have any recommendations for a good/reasonably priced attorney for something like this in Gwinnett county, GA, that would also be appreciated.
    Lastly, if anyone knows a ballpark figure of what I should expect to have to pay for an attorney and other associated costs, those figures would be appreciated as well.

    I'm not sure if the details from the night that brought these charges are necessary, but here's what happened just incase... My relationship with the girl that was living with me was already a bit rocky, and I found out one evening that she was still doing methamphetamine after telling me she had quit. I was sitting on the couch talking on the phone to a friend of mine when she got home. I told my friend to hold on, and basically told the girl that I wanted her out of my house. She began pushing me and hitting me, at which point I told her I was calling the police if she didn't leave, and went upstairs to lock myself in a room. I did not realize this at that moment, but she unplugged the phone from the wall as I was going upstairs to keep me from calling the police. Of course I picked the one room that did not have a lock on the door after going upstairs, so I had to stand there with my foot wedged against it to keep her out. After a few minutes I told her I was calling the police and tried to use the phone, but realized that it wasn't working. I then noticed a chair I could prop up against the door instead of standing there all night, but it was just barely out of my reach if I was to keep one foot against the door. I went for it anyways, at which point she got part of herself through the door. I was trying to close it back and I believe her head got caught in the door while I was trying to close it. Not wanting to harm her and with her already being half-way though the door, I backed off into the room. She continued yelling, pushing, and hitting on me, so at that point I did push her to the side so I could get away, went to my bedroom across the hall, and locked myself in there. Still yelling through the door for a few minutes, she finally agreed to leave, but said she had to get into the bedroom to get her stuff first. I let her in, but she was still hysterical, yelling at me, and flailing her arms around. I still had the phone in my hand since I hadn't fully realized it was disconnected yet. At one point when she was flailing her arms around, I thought she was going to hit me again and I went to block the punch with the hand I was still holding the phone with. Instead of blocking the punch though, I accidentally hit her in the side of the head with the phone. She continued yelling for a few minutes and pleading for me to let her stay there. Then when she realized I wasn't changing my mind, she told me that she was calling the police and I was going to jail. About 4 hours later, the police showed up at my door, started illegally searching my house until I told them to stop, and arrested me.

    Hopefully that covers everything that one would need to know. Any advice or recommendations as to how to go about getting these charges off my record or at least the felony part removed would be greatly appreciated.

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