Quote:
Originally Posted by genetic
The only time I've ever been to court was when a subpoena was issued by a lawyer for me to testify against a young man who caused a dreadful accident that destroyed my car and sent me to the hospital with irreparable injury. I never had the kind of statement you have presented (although you've done a beautiful job of presenting it).
You may find that you will simply sit in the witness seat and be asked questions by the attorneys if you are in a trial situation. If you are there just to testify before the judge, it could be handled differently, but my guess is that if that's the case, the judge is going to do the questioning and you'll just be required to answer
honestly. I would expect that the young man has employed an attorney for defense since he's in serious trouble.
Unless you've seen a lawyer and know that your presentation is the one to present, I'd hold on to your statement and wait to see what the judge says. You could also print a copy for the judge; that might help.
You really present the situation very clearly and coherently. I don't think any judge would miss the honesty of it.
I wish you a good day in court and an effective verdict for your benefit. It sounds as if you boyfriend has a serious psychiatric problem that needs to be medicated. He's certainly dangerous. The court might mandate that he undergo psychiatric evaluation and treatment.
Why didn't you deal with him long before it got to this point? When you were first asked about it at the hospital, what made you deflect the questions about possible abuse? Were you afraid? Or overly compassionate for the man who hurt you so badly? I may have missed your answer on that one while reading it all.
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Thank you. It is family court, not a criminal case and really all I want is the protection and to not drag it out into a trial. I know the police CAN press charges without my wishing them to if they feel they have enough evidence to win in a criminal case, so hopefully my opening statement will be enough to deter that.
I do not have a lawyer so that is why I wrote this out. My best guess (from talking to a friend of mine in law school in my state) is that the judge will first ask me what happened and why I am filing the restraining order. All the temporary order says is that I "fear for my safety", which is very vague. I do like the idea also of handing this statement to the judge, but I will first see what he says and then maybe have an extra copy just in case he doesn't want me to read it all.
I WISH I would have left him long before it did get to this point...but he had a very manipulative way of rationalizing things and making it seem like everything was my fault. When I got to the hospital I was scared and I wasn't ready to leave him. I don't really understand why and I really do think that the doctors and nurses knew I was lying. I guess I was overly compassionate toward him in a way too. I guess the reason I felt that way was because he had made me convinced that I was the reason we would argue.