Key Takeaways:
If you were falsely accused of domestic violence, what you do in the next 48 hours matters more than the accusation itself. Police in California can arrest on probable cause alone, and a judge can sign an order that removes you from your home the same night. None of that requires the report to be true.
At Hurwitz Law Group, we defend people against charges built on a single person's account of what happened behind a closed door. Our criminal defense attorneys can explain what the court has ordered, what the prosecution actually holds, and where the account against you is weakest. Call our team for a free case evaluation before you respond to anyone about the allegation.
A domestic violence report moves faster than most people expect. Officers who respond to the call rarely leave without taking action, and the decisions made that night shape everything that follows.
What you say during those first minutes lands in a written report. That document follows the case for months, and prosecutors read it long before they hear anything from you. Silence protects you far better than an explanation delivered on your own front lawn.
Two separate orders can restrict your daily life before you ever stand in front of a judge. Knowing what each one does keeps you from handing prosecutors a second case to prosecute.
When officers respond to a domestic violence call, they can request an Emergency Protective Order, or EPO, on the spot. A judge is available 24 hours a day to review that request, and the order usually lasts 5 to 7 days.
That brief order carries real weight. It can require you to stay away from the protected person, move out of a shared home, and surrender firearms and ammunition.
If prosecutors file charges, the judge can issue a Criminal Protective Order, or CPO, at your arraignment. Courts typically use Judicial Council form Criminal Protective Order CR-160 in domestic violence cases, and you receive your copy in court that day.
A CPO can bar all contact, set a stay-away distance, and prohibit firearms while the case remains open. Our attorneys walk through every line of that order with clients before they leave the courthouse.
False allegations do not collapse on their own, and waiting for the truth to surface costs you options. Several actions protect your position while your defense team goes to work:
Each of those actions is far easier in week one than in month three.
Following the order matters most of all. Violating a protective order is its own misdemeanor under Penal Code 273.6, punishable by a fine and up to 1 year in county jail.
If an officer has already served you with an order, call our team at (323) 244-4147 before you speak with anyone about the allegation. We can explain what the order restricts and what happens at your next court date.
Prosecutors build domestic violence cases on statements, and statements are testable. Our work is to measure the account against records that do not change their story later. Details tend to shift between the 911 call, the officer's report, and the preliminary hearing, and those shifts are worth finding.
Phones create a timeline whether anyone intends it or not. Message threads, call logs, rideshare receipts, card transactions, and location history can place you somewhere the accusation says you were not.
Much of that data has a short shelf life. Doorbell cameras and home security systems often overwrite footage within days, so we send preservation requests as soon as clients retain us.
Your own devices can work against you when handled carelessly. Deleting angry messages looks like destroying evidence, so we ask clients to preserve everything and let us sort out what actually matters.
Other people usually saw or heard part of the night in question. The sources below often carry more weight than either party's memory:
Gathered early, those pieces give us something concrete to test the allegation against.
Most false reports trace back to something the accuser wants. Motive matters at trial, because jurors weighing one person's word will want to know what that person stood to gain.
Mutual arguments complicate the picture further. When two people struggle and both reach for a phone, the one who calls dispatch first often becomes the accuser, and the other becomes the defendant.
Certain patterns repeat across these cases:
Identifying the motive early shapes how we cross-examine and how we negotiate with the prosecution.
Many people assume the case ends the moment the accuser changes their mind. In California, criminal charges are filed by the district attorney on behalf of the People, and the decision to file or dismiss rests with that office.
Your accuser's wishes get considered, though they do not control the outcome. Prosecutors often press ahead using the 911 recording, photographs, and officer testimony even after someone recants.
That reality creates a trap for the accused. Pressuring the person who reported you can produce new charges and damage your credibility, so leave every question of contact to your attorney. Knowingly reporting a crime that did not happen is itself a misdemeanor under Penal Code 148.5, but whether to file that charge is the prosecution's call.
An accusation usually becomes one of two charges, depending on whether the report describes a visible injury. Each one reaches well past the courtroom into your job, your housing, and your gun rights.
Penal Code 273.5 covers willfully inflicting an injury that results in a traumatic condition on a spouse, cohabitant, dating partner, or co-parent. Prosecutors can charge it as either a misdemeanor or a felony.
A felony conviction carries 2, 3, or 4 years in state prison, or up to 1 year in county jail, along with a fine of up to $6,000.
Domestic battery requires no visible injury whatsoever. Unwanted physical contact with an intimate partner can support the charge, which carries up to 1 year in county jail and a fine of up to $2,000.
That gap explains why so many accusations turn into charges. Nothing more than one person's description of a shove is needed to start the process.
Yes. Domestic battery requires no visible injury, so officers can make an arrest based on a report of unwanted physical contact alone.
An emergency protective order usually runs 5 to 7 days. The protected person can ask the court for a longer restraining order before that window closes.
Not on your own. We ask the court or arrange a civil standby with law enforcement so you can retrieve essentials without violating the order.
The prosecutor still decides whether to dismiss. We present the recantation with supporting records, because prosecutors frequently proceed on the original statements alone.
Possibly. Knowingly reporting a crime that did not occur is a misdemeanor, though only prosecutors can bring that charge.
Do not respond. Save the message, screenshot the timestamp, and send it to us, since the order restricts you no matter who reached out first.
If a protective order pushed you out of your own home over an accusation you know is false, the case against you is already being built.
Attorney Brian Hurwitz has more than 10 years of criminal defense experience, and our team works in the courtrooms across the state where these cases get decided. We examine the 911 recording, the officer's report, and the physical evidence before deciding how to challenge the account against you.
Call Hurwitz Law Group at (323) 244-4147 to speak with a California criminal defense attorney about a false domestic violence accusation, or reach us through our contact page.
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