Washington state. Hi. I am going through fierce custody battle and my ex is trying whatever she can to get me incriminated. A protection order was issued against me based on false allegations. I sent a letter to her mother for Christmas talking a little bit about what is going on and my ex took that letter to a police officer she knows and he found probable cause for a protection order violation and I was charged with the crime.
I have never been to criminal court. It started with the arraignment where my (temporary) public defender said to the judge "we do not want to argue probable cause”.
Then I went to the pretrial where I said I would represent myself pro se. The judge strongly discouraged me to go without a lawyer but I feel that since there is zero complexity in this case, I admit that I wrote the letter and I am claiming it was not for my ex but for her mother-in-law, and since I absolutely cannot afford a lawyer and do not qualify for a public defender I am fine representing myself.
Then I wrote a written response to the allegations and filed it with the prosecutor and the court. I was convinced that the prosecutor would drop the case based on my response. I talked to him on the phone and he said he would not drop the case and now I am scared. I felt very confident before hand that my letter could not ever be interpreted as a violation of the protection order but after speaking to the prosecutor I am not so sure anymore.
Worse, my ex and I were allowed to talk about the child exchanges through a parenting website. She went to her favorite police officer and he now filed a second criminal charge for protection order violation based on the online website exchanges which I still believe were all about the child exchanges and the topics were discussed by both of us. Of course it is possible that my ex tricked me to answer to topics slightly departing from child exchange so she could get a criminal conviction and make getting full custody in family court easier for her.
My questions are as follows:
is it possible to go back to the arraignment and claim that I did not understand what was going on and that I want a second arraignment to discuss probable cause?
My understanding is that in criminal court it has to be proven beyond reasonable doubt that someone is guilty for conviction. If I say that I did not write this letter for my ex, how will the prosecutor ever prove beyond reasonable doubt that I did? Similarly, I will claim in the second trial that the topics discussed were about child exchange and that the Family Court really had simple conversation about the child visits in mind when they wrote “topics of child exchange” into the protection order.
Lastly, it is obvious that my ex is trying to incriminate me and harm me. Is there any way I can respond to this sort of persecution?
Short of suggesting to get a lawyer, I am most grateful if somebody could explain to me the basics of criminal court procedure and what to do and how to interact with the court and prosecutor.
Thank you very much
I have never been to criminal court. It started with the arraignment where my (temporary) public defender said to the judge "we do not want to argue probable cause”.
Then I went to the pretrial where I said I would represent myself pro se. The judge strongly discouraged me to go without a lawyer but I feel that since there is zero complexity in this case, I admit that I wrote the letter and I am claiming it was not for my ex but for her mother-in-law, and since I absolutely cannot afford a lawyer and do not qualify for a public defender I am fine representing myself.
Then I wrote a written response to the allegations and filed it with the prosecutor and the court. I was convinced that the prosecutor would drop the case based on my response. I talked to him on the phone and he said he would not drop the case and now I am scared. I felt very confident before hand that my letter could not ever be interpreted as a violation of the protection order but after speaking to the prosecutor I am not so sure anymore.
Worse, my ex and I were allowed to talk about the child exchanges through a parenting website. She went to her favorite police officer and he now filed a second criminal charge for protection order violation based on the online website exchanges which I still believe were all about the child exchanges and the topics were discussed by both of us. Of course it is possible that my ex tricked me to answer to topics slightly departing from child exchange so she could get a criminal conviction and make getting full custody in family court easier for her.
My questions are as follows:
is it possible to go back to the arraignment and claim that I did not understand what was going on and that I want a second arraignment to discuss probable cause?
My understanding is that in criminal court it has to be proven beyond reasonable doubt that someone is guilty for conviction. If I say that I did not write this letter for my ex, how will the prosecutor ever prove beyond reasonable doubt that I did? Similarly, I will claim in the second trial that the topics discussed were about child exchange and that the Family Court really had simple conversation about the child visits in mind when they wrote “topics of child exchange” into the protection order.
Lastly, it is obvious that my ex is trying to incriminate me and harm me. Is there any way I can respond to this sort of persecution?
Short of suggesting to get a lawyer, I am most grateful if somebody could explain to me the basics of criminal court procedure and what to do and how to interact with the court and prosecutor.
Thank you very much
