Legal Issues

[TheNiteSiren]

A few months back i had to press charges against my little brother for punching me in the face. i have one witness to the event and today my brother was picked up on a bench warrant because he never showed up to court to answer the charges.

The whole thing happened because i stood between him and our baby brother, whom he was about to go beat on because he was drunk and angry. i would not let my brother passed me to go hit that kid and now he is trying to say I hit him first.

I never laid a hand on him. The patrol officer took a picture of my injury, I have a witness and i eventually had to go to the emergency room because my face hurt so bad I thought he might have fractured my jaw.

Can he press charges? He had no marks when he left. i have evidence to back up my claim and our mother is after me to drop the charges.

 

[subwannabe]

I wouldn't worry about it. The courts and judges are used to BS.

 

[mnbreastluver]

I wouldn't worry about it. The courts and judges are used to BS.

I also agree! This isn't the court systems first rodeo! I does suck that you have to have this type of issue with a family member.

 

[hangdawg]

A few months back i had to press charges against my little brother for punching me in the face. i have one witness to the event and today my brother was picked up on a bench warrant because he never showed up to court to answer the charges.

The whole thing happened because i stood between him and our baby brother, whom he was about to go beat on because he was drunk and angry. i would not let my brother passed me to go hit that kid and now he is trying to say I hit him first.

I never laid a hand on him. The patrol officer took a picture of my injury, I have a witness and i eventually had to go to the emergency room because my face hurt so bad I thought he might have fractured my jaw.

Can he press charges? He had no marks when he left. i have evidence to back up my claim and our mother is after me to drop the charges.

As the Flobots song goes, "I can send anyone to prison just because I don't like them" so goes the justice system. Yes he can press charges. Yes he can bring a civil suit. Yes he can stir shit up. However, the likelihood of him winning anything, aka your losing, given the facts occurred as you describe them, is quite low.
My wife had our landlady try to come into our house without notice. She used the door as a blockade but the woman pushed, on the door not my wife, and tried to get into our house. My wife put her hands up to block the woman from coming in.
Police came and in the end, because the landlady pressed charges, my wife was charged with assault. Went to court and the judge said it wasn't assault charge but "illegal touching". He didn't even question my wife. He talked to the landlady and made his ruling. Not guilty for my wife.
Point is that they can bitch, you can be charged, court can be used but in the end if you are innocent, especially in something like this, I wouldn't worry too much.

 

[SweetErika]

Judges typically see right through someone's bullshit and will take their defenses and accusations for exactly the nonsense they are. If your brother didn't answer the charges and has a history of alcohol abuse and/or bad behavior, whereas you have a court appearance, police report, doctor's assessment, photo and witness backing up your story, have some faith that the judge will see who's being honest about the situation.

You did the right thing by pressing charges, and you should definitely see this through. It sounds like your brother got this way because he hasn't been held accountable enough in the past, so now he needs to learn that he can't abuse alcohol and deal with his anger issues by hitting people. He may need an adult time out and/or and you can certainly ask the prosecutor and/or judge if things like substance abuse treatment/education, anger management classes and community service might be options (if you believe those things might help him more than jail and fines). If your brother doesn't get some tough love on this one, he's not going to learn that getting drunk and harming people isn't an acceptable way to deal with issues, so don't listen to your mom about dropping the charges. Your mom needs to stop enabling her problem child and focus on supporting and helping ALL of her kids learn, be responsible and accountable.

 

[TheNiteSiren]

Thanks for all the advice guys. Turns out it had to do with his arrest from our incident because the day he was booked, the idiot decided to break the mug shot camera with his head. *facepalm* This was something no one mentioned to me. I knew it had something to do with what happened that day but not sure how. Sad to say but this is typical behavior on his part. He even tried breaking my arm in a similar fashion when we were teens.

 

[SweetErika]

Thanks for all the advice guys. Turns out it had to do with his arrest from our incident because the day he was booked, the idiot decided to break the mug shot camera with his head. *facepalm* This was something no one mentioned to me. I knew it had something to do with what happened that day but not sure how. Sad to say but this is typical behavior on his part. He even tried breaking my arm in a similar fashion when we were teens.

You might want to mention that this is his typical pattern of behavior and there have been other incidents of assault to the prosecutor and/or judge if you think things like therapy, substance abuse treatment, anger management classes and community service would be more beneficial to him than straight jail time and fines. Do you think he has the desire to change his ways and live a better life?

Also, is there a possibility he'll try to harass you or get revenge for you pressing charges? If so, have you considered a protection/restraining order to prevent him from making contact with you while he's out on bond/bail or after his sentencing?