My girlfriend and I got in a fight and I hit her. We made up and are back together. Can she just drop the charges?
Whitney S. Boan Protecting Your Right
Video Transcript
The way a criminal prosecution works is this, even if you’ve been arrested and your girlfriend decides that she doesn’t want to pursue the charges against you anymore for domestic violence, battery that may not require that the case not go forward. The prosecuting authority is the state of Florida, the state attorney’s office or what you might call the prosecutors. The prosecutors can make a decision with or without her cooperation to prosecute the case against you.
You should be careful if you’ve been ordered to have no contact with your girlfriend who you got in a fight with and who alleged that you battered her. You may not be permitted to have contact with her at all or it may only be permitted under limited circumstances with restrictions. You need to speak with a lawyer to make sure that anything that you’re doing may not expose you to additional criminal charges or heightened penalties if you happen to still be convicted of the charge of domestic violence, battery for which you were originally arrested.