Bronx

Published on: April 22, 2012

Woman Attacks Husband in Domestic Violence Incident

by Stephen Bilkis

The family court released a decision upon a fact-finding reason that a mother neglected her three children and now released two of the children to the custody of their father with 12 months of supervision by the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS). A New York Criminal Lawyer said the mother ordered by the court to comply with the terms of an order of protection. Based on records, the administration for children’s services protects the children from abuse and abandonment or even neglect. The administration for children’s services also provides neighborhood-based services with the help of the community partners, to ensure the children to grow up in safe, permanent homes with strong families

Majority of the evidence supports the court’s finding that the mother neglected her children below eighteen years of age, by committing acts of domestic violence against the children’s father in the children’s presence. Through such actions, the children’s physical, mental or emotional condition has been impaired or is in imminent danger of becoming impaired as a result of the failure of the parent to exercise a minimum degree of care.

The out of court statements made by one of the children regarding the mother’s attacks on the father were supported by the father’s testimony, the responding police officer’s testimony, and the out of court statements of the mother’s daughters. A New York Criminal Lawyer said that based on records, no expert or medical testimony is required to show that the violent acts exposed the children to an imminent risk of harm. Evidence also supports the court’s finding of educational neglect as to one of the children. The record shows that, for the 2008–2009 school year, the child missed 64 out of 181 days of school and was late 38 out of 181 days. It shows excessive unexcused absences from school that supports a finding of neglect. The child’s guidance counselor testified that he had contacted the mother on numerous occasions regarding the child’s absenteeism, and there is no basis for disturbing the court’s credibility determinations.

Published on: April 22, 2012

Defedant Claims he is a Victim of Malicious Prosecution

by Stephen Bilkis

A man moved for an order requiring his opponents to produce for an in camera inspection of employment and civilian complaint review board records for two police officers. A New York Criminal Lawyer said the opponent’s city opposes the motion and moves for an order to dismiss the complaint against it.

It started in a complaint report prepared by a police officer involving the man’s mother who stated that the man got upset and broke her cell phone when she presented him with a P.I.N.S. warrant. The man’s brother also stated that the man smacked/slapped his mother in the face with a notebook. No injuries were reported, nor arrests made but a domestic incident report was prepared. The police officer classified the incident as harassment.

Two hours after the incident, the mother was signed and swore to the incident report, on which the notation no offense was scratched out and replaced with harassment as offense description.

Published on: April 21, 2012

Court Rules on Custody Dispute

by Stephen Bilkis

Custody issues are never pleasant; however, they are often complicated by differing parenting styles and volatile relationships between the parents. A New York Criminal Lawyer said the court is responsible for determining what if anything will improve the child’s emotional and physical development. In some cases, these decisions are complicated further by domestic violence and poor choices that have been made by one or both parents who are involved in the custody case. In New York, the law is very concerned with the child involved being given the best opportunities. It is because of this outlook that New York courts appoint the child their own attorney to represent their best interests in a custody case.

This is the situation that one couple found themselves in. In May of 2002, a thirty-two year old man met and married a thirty year old woman in New York. The father was a first grade teacher at the time and the mother was an interpreter. They had only known one another for a short time prior to the marriage was in part decided due to the fact that the woman had become pregnant. During the pregnancy, the couple had a violent argument. The father threw his pregnant wife down a flight of stairs in front of her sister. When she attempted to call the police for assistance, he grabbed the phone and pulled it out of the wall to prevent her making the call. Her sister witnessed the incident.

The wife moved out of the house and was living apart from the man at the time that she gave birth to their son in December of 2002. A New York Criminal Lawyer said the couple admit that during the time they were together that a large amount of the time was marked by violence and arguments. During the next few years, the mother raised the son herself with little interaction with the father.

Published on: April 21, 2012

Couple Try to Back Out of Giving Child Up for Adoption

by Stephen Bilkis

A 22-year old black woman became pregnant by her 23-year old boyfriend. At that time, the mother was teaching at a Christian school by day and she was studying at a community college to earn a degree as a medical assistant. Her boyfriend was working for a large retail company but he was working toward a degree in automotive mechanics.

A New York Criminal Lawyer said both the woman and the man lived with their families. The woman had a two-year old daughter who lived with her and the man had a three year old son who lived with his ex-girlfriend but the man enjoys joint custody and regularly paid child support for his son.

While the woman was pregnant, she responded to a personal advertisement in a newspaper placed by a single woman who wanted to adopt a baby. The woman and the pregnant lady spoke to each other over the phone and they met several times. Both the pregnant woman and her boyfriend liked the woman and were willing have their baby adopted by the single woman.

Published on: April 21, 2012

Defendant Charged with Gun Possession

by Stephen Bilkis

On March 11, 2007, two police officers were on motor patrol in an area known for gang activity. At around 11:30 pm, a man walked in front of the police officers’ unmarked car. The man was walking slowly, impeding the smooth flow of traffic on the street. A New York Criminal Lawyer said that as he passed the police officers’ car, one of the police officers noticed a shiny object glinting at the rear right pants pocket of the man who passed by.

As the man was walking slowly, the officer noted that the glinting object appeared to be metallic and it was inside his rear pocket. Only the clip was showing outside and the top part of the object was protruding from the pocket.

The police officer has had the experience of making 50 arrests for weapons possessions and he believed that the glinting object clipped to the man’s pocket was either a gravity knife or a small-caliber handgun.

Published on: April 21, 2012

Court Discusses Jurisdiction of Integrated Domestic Violence Court

by Stephen Bilkis

A man was charged on one count of harassment in the second degree alleging an act of domestic violence against the complainant. Consequently, the man served an action on the district attorney while the court action was pending. The three petitions were concurrently pending in the family court between the man, the complainant and a third family member concerning the custody of the man and complainant’s child. The pending decision of the criminal and family court matters with the underlying issue prompted a screening by the Supreme Court and its integrated domestic violence (IDV) part in the county. After the screening, the court determined that the transfer of the family’s cases to the IDV was appropriate by finding that it would promote the administration of justice.

The man moved for dismissal of the charged on one count of harassment in the second degree alleging an act of domestic cruelty against him and asserts that Supreme Court lacks an essential subject matter authority citing criminal procedure law. A New York Criminal Lawyer said the man also argued that irrelevant offenses charged as a sole count in a legal document may not be tried in the Supreme Court unless the offense is charged in an allegation that also charges a crime. The man further relies on the recent Court of Appeal’s decision that supports his dismissal request.

The man also claims that to understand the provisions of the constitution to grant the transfer of authority to the Supreme Court IDV part and to transfer a sole count of a violation level offense would support an improper use of the court’s resources and gives the court’s unarguable subject matter authority over more serious offenses.

Published on: April 20, 2012

Court Decides Custody Arrangement in Light of Domestic Violence Incidents

by Stephen Bilkis

A man and a woman lived together and had a child who was born on February 17, 1990. They were married five months later on May 7, 1990. They resided at an apartment on Fifth Avenue. During their stay at the apartment, the woman met and cultivated a friendship with another woman who resided on another floor of the same apartment building.

The friend saw the woman everyday and noticed bruises on her face and arms. She saw her with a split lip. One evening the woman came to her friend’s apartment asking for help. She was bleeding from a cut above her right eye. She was crying and shaking. The friend called the police and after that, the friend went up to the woman’s apartment on the 19th floor to get her baby. The friend recalls that the woman invariably told her that it was her husband who hurt her. She also confided in her that they were fighting all the time.

The woman applied for and was able to obtain a temporary order of protection against her husband from the Criminal court for domestic violence. Six months after the issuance of the order of protection, her husband was arrested for violating the order of protection. He pleaded guilty and was imprisoned for six months. A final order of protection was issued to the wife for a period of three years.

Published on: April 20, 2012

Court Hears Battered Parent Defense

by Stephen Bilkis

A New York Criminal Lawyer says that domestic violence comes in all shapes and sizes. Fifty years ago, domestic violence cases were not recognized. In many cases the victims of domestic violence were ignored. It was a dirty family secret that few people talked about. The victims were ignored. It was not until the late 1980s and into the 1990s that the psychology of domestic violence was finally studied. Now, courts often hear evidence related to the fear associated with being battered in domestic violence. Several syndromes are common place in court rooms today: battered child syndrome, battered wife’s syndrome, and battered women’s syndrome. Crimes against the elderly do not get as much attention. In fact, it has only been in recent years that some states have begun to recognize that the psychological issues associated with being battered are not gender specific. Their wives or their children can batter men. In fact, many states have enacted additional statutes that are designed to protect the elderly from being battered by their children by changing the language of their battering laws to make them non gender specific.

In New York, in 1999, there had never been a case that involved a father being battered by his child. On June 21, 1999, a man who had been arrested for the murder of his adult son, filed a CP: 250.10 notice to the court that he would be offering a battered defense at trial. He requested that his medical expert on the subject be allowed to testify on his behalf. A New York Criminal Lawyer said the District Attorney assigned to the case stated that the state of New York did not recognize a defense of Battered Parent Syndrome. The District Attorney further stated that even if Battered Parent Syndrome did occur, a medical expert would not be necessary because most jurors have the ordinary training and intelligence to evaluate if the person is suffering from that syndrome.

The defense argued that since battered parent syndrome is not normally referred to by the general public, it is necessary to have an expert explain the correlation between battered parent syndrome and other battered syndromes. By showing the jurors that other states have already begun to recognize this condition as non-gender specific, it becomes easier for them to relate to the defendant.

Published on: April 20, 2012

Court Disusses Authority of Housing Court vs. Family Court

by Stephen Bilkis

In New York, there are several different remedies which may be applied in the case of a family dispute. The couple, especially if they are in government housing, may proceed with an illegal lock out complaint to be reinstated to the apartment through the housing authority. However, if a complaint to address these issues has already been filed in Family Court, the Housing Court will generally refer the case back there. Family court has more liberty to pursue different remedies than does Housing Court. In order for a person to get reinstated to an apartment, they must be on the housing authority paperwork as a tenant or co-tenant. A New York Criminal Lawyer said the couple may also pursue a domestic violence case in either Family Court, or Criminal Court, or both. In a case where there are other issues pending in additional courts, Housing Court will generally refer the housing issue to be handled by the other court.

In one case, a man and his wife who lived in a housing authority apartment had a verbal argument one night that was so heated that the police were requested to come to the residence. The wife informed the police that during the argument, her husband had told their children that he was a member of the “Bloods” gang and that women were not to be respected. He told the children that women were supposed to be under the foot of the man. A New York Criminal Lawyer said his wife had a previous order of protection that had been in effect in 1998 and it had barred the husband from the apartment. The police told the man to go out for a walk and cool down. He left the apartment. The police took a police report and left.

The man claims that when he returned, his belongings were out front and the locks to the apartment had been changed so that he could not get back in. The wife claims that she did not put his belongings out, nor did she change the locks. She stated that she obtained an order of protection for herself and the children. That order of protection declares that the husband is barred from the apartment until the hearing of the case in August of 2004. Since there is an order in effect in Family Court that prohibits the husband from going back in to the apartment until after the hearing in August, it is a moot point to have a hearing in Housing Court. Clearly, there is no way that the housing court could overrule the order of Family Court to allow the man to move back in to the apartment before the hearing in August. It is because of this that the petition to allow the man to move back in to the apartment was dismissed.

Published on: April 19, 2012

Court Decides if Medical Records are Hearsay in Domestic Violence Case

by Stephen Bilkis

The police received a 911 call from a woman who claimed to being beaten up by her husband. The police arrived at the scene within one minute of the 911 call and found that a husband was yelling and berating his wife. The man was standing over his wife who was cowered and hiding in between the furniture, hiding her face which appeared freshly bruised. She was crying.

A New York Criminal Lawyer said when the responding police officer asked her what happened, she said that her husband had punched her repeatedly in the head, the face and the back. She appeared to be bleeding from her left ear. She was in pain.

The police officer who responded executed a sworn statement stating the circumstances of his response to the 911 call. He stated that he found the couple in their home with the man standing over his wife who appeared to be in stress. She was crying and seemed to be in fear. When he asked what happened to her, she replied that her husband hit her and beat her up.