Criteria involved in criminal charges being pressed by DA

[salman501]

My child injured his arm in July. Since then we got involved with CPS, went to juvenile court, had a settlement where custody was placed with mom, and I was ordered to move out. I am working on reunification.

I yesterday. Nov 5th received a letter from San Diego Police Dept that I have been placed on Child Abuse Central Index and they did not find that the case was unfounded and I am named a suspect etc.

I called the DA's office and they have my case since middle of September. They haven't filed any charges as of yet. Am I safe or charges can be pressed still?

Could anyone shed some light on what to expect?

[LindaJM]

Salman, I think they can still file charges. I don't know what might happen next. Hopefully they'll drop it. What evidence do they have anyhow? If they don't have enough evidence they might not want to pursue it.

[MaggieC]

In NYC, in cases of domestic violence even if the initial complainant wihdraws the complaint, the DA may still choose to prosecute.

I would begin to compile documents in your defense to be on the safe side.

[salman501]

Police referred the case to the DA in early September. To this date the case is sitting with Family Protection Unit and hasn't been assigned. I have asked my lawyer to talk to DA to see if we can get the charges dropped before they even file them.

In the juvenile court case, we had a settlement and the custody was placed back with my wife in October and only last week I got 1 hr of unsupervised visitation.

[MaggieC]

Please stay on top of whatever criminal charges may befall you. As rough as CPS and social service law is, you do not want to also have to juggle the prospect of jail time.

Hang in there. Keep notes of all of your requests/conversations with your attorney as well.