Assault & Battery Relevant vs unrelevant evidence for the DA?

[ces213]

Jurisdiction

Ohio

I know nothing about law or filing charges or police protocol, it's all new to me, so forgive me if I ask any dumb questions.

But to make a long story short I was physically assaulted / battered by an ex boyfriend.
I escaped and immediately drove to my local police station with visible injuries and told them what happened and that I wanted to file and report and press charges.
But the officer took no pictures and didn't have me fill out any paper work that night. It wasn't until I showed up the next day with my own pictures that he gave me a criminal complaint form, and then he refused to take his own pictures of my bruises because 'it's too late to prove that they're from that night.'
I returned yesterday with the criminal complaint form and my pictures and talked to a supervisor, and he just grabbed my stack of pictures and my form, without even reading it, and told another officer "go put this on the prosecutors desk."

No arrests were made, no officer read my statements on the form before putting it on the prosecutors desk, and I'm pretty sure the police haven't even investigated it at all.

So now for questions:

1) Will the fact that the initial officer didn't take his own pictures or make an arrest, and probably didn't investigate the suspect hurt my chances of the prosecutor filing charges?

2) This ex boyfriend has a pattern of menacing and stalking behavior. I had filed my first police report ever a couple weeks earlier when he broke into my apartment and stole some items after harassing and threatening me and a friend so badly at a mini mart that he got kicked off the property by the manager. If I bring in THAT police report as well, and have my friend and the manager of the mini mart write a statement as witnesses, could the prosecutor use that as evidence of a pattern of his behavior?

3) This ex boyfriend allegedly showed up to work with a broken hand the day after he assaulted me. Could my bruises, combined with his broken hand, be used as possible evidence to support my statements? Would the prosecutor be able to use that?

4) In my criminal complaint form, I briefly mentioned that my ex boyfriend threatened me during the attack by telling me that he had secretly been recording not only the conversation that night, but that he also secretly recorded the last time we had sex to use it as black mail. I also mention that his audio recorder on his phone was on and recording during the attack. Would this warrant an investigation? Like could the prosecutor use that information to demand a police officer actually investigate and get his phone for evidence?

5) Similar to #4, I mentioned in my statement that I saw messages on the ex boyfriends phone that show the attack was premeditated between him and a friend-- the friend was to lure me out to a location so my ex could assault me. Would my statement be enough of a probable cause to obtain my exes phone for evidence?

6) After leaving the police station I quit my job because my ex still works there and I obviously didn't feel safe going back, would this count as circumstantial evidence that the attack took place, because it was scary enough for me to immediately quit my job?

7) This ex has been physically abusive to at least 2 girlfriends before me. If one or both of them wrote statements about it, would that be evidence of repeated behavior?

8) I have a screenshot from a coworker where they messaged me out of the blue urging me to get a restraining order because my ex boyfriend had told them he wanted to murder me for breaking up with him. That, combined with the fact that he has guns and knows where I live and has broken in before and has talked via text about struggling with homocidal thoughts, be enough to be considered evidence or hold any weight at all?

There's several more "small things" but I'll end it here.

What should I do? Is any of the above going to be relevant to the prosecutor in their decision to file charges or not? Or order an investigation at least? I just want to know what, if anything, the prosecutor can use so I know what all I should bring with me to the prosecutors office to supplement my current report with more evidence.

Thank you. Sorry again for the complete lack of knowledge in this area, I don't know how this works at all or what to do.

 

[adjusterjack]

1) Will the fact that the initial officer didn't take his own pictures or make an arrest, and probably didn't investigate the suspect hurt my chances of the prosecutor filing charges?

That's something only the prosecutor can answer. Call him.

What should I do?

All of your questions are speculative. The best place to get answers is from the prosecutor.

You seem to have had enough cause for a restraining order a long time ago. Had you gotten on and he violated it, there would have been a much better chance of arrest.

Meantime, there is probably a domestic violence assistance agency in your city that can help you through this.

 

[cbg]

Pictures of injuries rarely if ever "prove" when or how they were obtained.

 

[mightymoose]

Did you come away from the station with a report number? If so, see about getting a copy of the report so you can check it for accuracy and see what further action has been done, if any. The department should be able to tell you who has been assigned your caca and put you in touch with that person directly.
If you have a complaint you would like to make about the way you were treated ask the department for their official complaint form and make your complaint in writing. Any verbal complaint will not go further than the person who received it.

 

[leslie82]

I know nothing about law or filing charges or police protocol, it's all new to me, so forgive me if I ask any dumb questions.

But to make a long story short I was physically assaulted / battered by an ex boyfriend.
I escaped and immediately drove to my local police station with visible injuries and told them what happened and that I wanted to file and report and press charges.
But the officer took no pictures and didn't have me fill out any paper work that night. It wasn't until I showed up the next day with my own pictures that he gave me a criminal complaint form, and then he refused to take his own pictures of my bruises because 'it's too late to prove that they're from that night.'
I returned yesterday with the criminal complaint form and my pictures and talked to a supervisor, and he just grabbed my stack of pictures and my form, without even reading it, and told another officer "go put this on the prosecutors desk."

No arrests were made, no officer read my statements on the form before putting it on the prosecutors desk, and I'm pretty sure the police haven't even investigated it at all.

So now for questions:

1) Will the fact that the initial officer didn't take his own pictures or make an arrest, and probably didn't investigate the suspect hurt my chances of the prosecutor filing charges?

2) This ex boyfriend has a pattern of menacing and stalking behavior. I had filed my first police report ever a couple weeks earlier when he broke into my apartment and stole some items after harassing and threatening me and a friend so badly at a mini mart that he got kicked off the property by the manager. If I bring in THAT police report as well, and have my friend and the manager of the mini mart write a statement as witnesses, could the prosecutor use that as evidence of a pattern of his behavior?

3) This ex boyfriend allegedly showed up to work with a broken hand the day after he assaulted me. Could my bruises, combined with his broken hand, be used as possible evidence to support my statements? Would the prosecutor be able to use that?

4) In my criminal complaint form, I briefly mentioned that my ex boyfriend threatened me during the attack by telling me that he had secretly been recording not only the conversation that night, but that he also secretly recorded the last time we had sex to use it as black mail. I also mention that his audio recorder on his phone was on and recording during the attack. Would this warrant an investigation? Like could the prosecutor use that information to demand a police officer actually investigate and get his phone for evidence?

5) Similar to #4, I mentioned in my statement that I saw messages on the ex boyfriends phone that show the attack was premeditated between him and a friend-- the friend was to lure me out to a location so my ex could assault me. Would my statement be enough of a probable cause to obtain my exes phone for evidence?

6) After leaving the police station I quit my job because my ex still works there and I obviously didn't feel safe going back, would this count as circumstantial evidence that the attack took place, because it was scary enough for me to immediately quit my job?

7) This ex has been physically abusive to at least 2 girlfriends before me. If one or both of them wrote statements about it, would that be evidence of repeated behavior?

8) I have a screenshot from a coworker where they messaged me out of the blue urging me to get a restraining order because my ex boyfriend had told them he wanted to murder me for breaking up with him. That, combined with the fact that he has guns and knows where I live and has broken in before and has talked via text about struggling with homocidal thoughts, be enough to be considered evidence or hold any weight at all?

There's several more "small things" but I'll end it here.

What should I do? Is any of the above going to be relevant to the prosecutor in their decision to file charges or not? Or order an investigation at least? I just want to know what, if anything, the prosecutor can use so I know what all I should bring with me to the prosecutors office to supplement my current report with more evidence.

Thank you. Sorry again for the complete lack of knowledge in this area, I don't know how this works at all or what to do.

Unfortunately some police officers don't do their job. However, filing a report doesn't automatically mean an arrest will happen.

The first time my ex husband (we weren't married at that time) hit me, I called the police the next day. We were visiting his friends a few hours away but in another state than I lived. It happened in a hotel. He was on meth and drunk. He wanted me to take him somewhere I said no because we were both drunk. Resulted in him attacking me ultimately for like almost 2 hours. When he finally passed out - I left him there. I should have told someone at the desk and called the police then but I was scared. I went to my dad's who lived a couple hours away.

I went back to where I lived and talked to some people at work and I called the police up there. I couldn't get back up til the end of the week so I made an appointment to talk to this female police officer that Friday. I went with my dad - and I talked to the officer alone. She took pictures of my bruises and black eye. Took my statement and said "oh we'll have him in jail by this weekend. Probably tomorrow."

Nope. They went and talked to him and he told a completely different story. Total bullshit. So it became "he said/she said." The fact there was no other evidence than my bruises and I reported a day later did complicate it. The other thing that complicated it was somehow that female cop started to get a little too chummy with my ex. I complained to the victim witness advocate at the police station and she sent it up. They reassigned a male detective to the case. It dragged for 2 months because he wouldn't come back in to do a lie detector after his first interview. The detective told me "I know he's lying to me." I did have aprotection order but I dropped it after two months because I'm an idiot and believed his family that he was getting sober and all this other crap. Then I told the officer I was done cooperating because I knew it would go nowhere. They did drop it. I stupidly hooked up with him again and bam pregnant a month after that and he hit me again five months after that and then I stupidly married him a month and a half later and then he nearly killed me when our daughter was four months old. I did call the police immediately after I got away and he was arrested that day.

So you can take all that you have to the prosecutor but doesn't mean they'll push forward. They aren't going to take a case unless they think they have a good chance to win.

I'd look up to see if that station has a victim witness advocate or a victim advocate. Get the police report number. File a complaint through victim advocacy or however they do complaints.