In cases that involve a victim or a witness, you cannot make contact with them. You can’t encourage them in any way to change their testimony or to lie, or to ignore a subpoena, or contact them to apologize. This is probably one of the more common things that people don’t realize, or that people don’t comply with.

The other thing to consider is whether or not a criminal protective order was issued at your arraignment. Sometimes that criminal protective order says that you are not allowed to have contact with the victim even if that victim is your wife or child. If you live together, you’ll have to find someplace else to stay and you won’t be able to communicate directly or through a third party. That is where an attorney would come in – we can let the court know that the victim wants to reconcile and wants to have communication and contact with you. If the victim appears in court to state the same then we will be able to ask for a modified order that allows for peaceful contact and does not prohibit communication or interaction or request that no orders be issued at all.