BRONX DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CASES
The Bronx District Attorney's Office is in charge of all domestic violence cases that allegedly occur in Bronx County. The Domestic Violence Bureau is tasked with this job.This is done by specialized prosecutors who focus mostly on domestic violence cases. The cases proceed mostly in domestic violence courts and or a court called IDV. IDV stands for Integrated Domestic Violence Part. This is a Courtroom that a single judge will hear both the criminal case and the family law case that is attached to it. It is designed to prevent parties from going back and forth to different court rooms on different dates.
The Bronx DA has made domestic violence prosecutions a priority of his administration. Very little investigation is done in these cases by the prosecutors. They will mostly believe the word of the accuser over the accused and try to force the accused to accept some kind of plea deal in order to keep up their numbers. The federal government aslo hands out grants to prosecutors who focus on these types of cases. The Bronx DA also has a satellite office that is used to help alleged victims of domestic violenece obtain free public monies in order to help the DA prosecute cases.The result is that many of the accused,(mostly men), are coerced into pleading guilty into batterers programs and be labeled as abusers, even though they have done nothing wrong. The prosecutors are very reluctant to dismiss a case against anyone, even if the evidence is not there. They rely on the threat of a jury trial to force people into accepting plea deals. This has become a nationwide problem in these types of prosecutions. Prosecutors even go so far as prosecuting someone without the victim's testimony. This is called evidence based prosecution and it is used to prosecute someone when the alleged victim will not come forward. In no other type of case does this occur.
If you are facing domestic violence charges in The Bronx, contact The Law Offices of Michael S. Discioarro, LLC at 917-519-8417 and protect your legal rights.