- Jurisdiction
- Louisiana
Today my stepmom shoved me, so I started pushing her out of my room, which lead to us shoving each other for a few minutes until she eventually punched me in the face. It's the second time she's been violent with me. A few minutes after this, I threw a small pill bottle at her and shoved her once, but I never hit her. She called the cops on me and told them I got on top of her and beat her up.
The cops immediately took her side, saying it was obvious that I hit her because she had red marks on her face (she just had some scarring/discoloration from before and might've been crying, but she didn't have any marks on her face from me). I told my side of the story, but they accused me of lying and threatened to take me to jail immediately. Whenever I would repeat what happened, they would tell me I kept changing my story (I might've misspoke a couple times because I was so anxious, but I was completely honest and told the same story every time, including the part where I shoved her afterwards). They still took her side, and they told me I was being charged with misdemeanor domestic abuse battery, and gave me a court date.
I'm 19 and I've never been in trouble with the law before. Even if I don't get any jail time, I'm terrified that this will end up on my record. How hard would it be to prove I didn't assault her? If I get her to drop the charges, will it still be on my record? If I'm not convicted, could I sue her for slander? If I am convicted, what is likely the worst punishment I'll get? My dad is pretty much the only one who believes me, but he was only there to see the aftermath (when I was crying and telling him she punched me), and what happened before she hit me (when she was clearly in a very bad mood and taking it out on me) – could he testify for me?
The cops immediately took her side, saying it was obvious that I hit her because she had red marks on her face (she just had some scarring/discoloration from before and might've been crying, but she didn't have any marks on her face from me). I told my side of the story, but they accused me of lying and threatened to take me to jail immediately. Whenever I would repeat what happened, they would tell me I kept changing my story (I might've misspoke a couple times because I was so anxious, but I was completely honest and told the same story every time, including the part where I shoved her afterwards). They still took her side, and they told me I was being charged with misdemeanor domestic abuse battery, and gave me a court date.
I'm 19 and I've never been in trouble with the law before. Even if I don't get any jail time, I'm terrified that this will end up on my record. How hard would it be to prove I didn't assault her? If I get her to drop the charges, will it still be on my record? If I'm not convicted, could I sue her for slander? If I am convicted, what is likely the worst punishment I'll get? My dad is pretty much the only one who believes me, but he was only there to see the aftermath (when I was crying and telling him she punched me), and what happened before she hit me (when she was clearly in a very bad mood and taking it out on me) – could he testify for me?