Hi All,
I have been arrested a few times due to ex-partner either; making things up, exaggerating or similar. All of which has been; No further action and not guilty.
Is there any case law or similar which makes it plainly clear that the judge cannot deduce adverse inferences from my arrests as I have been arrested 4 times now.
The police officer said I could do something so in my family court the officer questioning me gets called in as a witness to the proceedings. He pretty much apologized to me for being held in a Police cell and quickly released me then they dropped me back off home.
I do not want the judge to look at a piece of paper with Police at the top and being arrested for harassment (NFA) AND make adverse inferences as "high conflict" - what do I do... call in the Police officer?
Hi
Unfortunately there isn't anything that applies to the family courts. In the criminal courts such records are more heavily scrutinised but also any convictions/trial etc would not be impacted by such records as it be excluded (unless relevant and approved by the judge).
I also feel that you need to be mindful of and understand the difference between criminal courts/processes and family courts/ processes and why such police records are important and used. In the criminal courts guilt is based on beyond reasonable doubt, in the family courts its based on the balance of probabilities, so 51%. Therefore just because the police took no further action doesn't mean nothing happened, the police decision (in general cases not necessarily yours) would be based on criminal legislation, whether it would be possible to convict you, the CPS viewpoint etc all based on convicting beyond reasonable doubt, the family courts would look at it and can come to a different conclusion as the bar/threshold is significantly lower but they are not establishing guilt but more what has happened in order to form a viewpoint for the next steps..
Hence it is possible for the police to take no action re domestic violence as they do not have any or enough evidence to pursue and for the CPS to convict but the family court could determine that there was domestic violence just based on the hearing statements from both parties and/or any witnesses and go from there..
The reason this is important to understand is so that your strategy takes this into consideration and you do not just think that just because the police NFA the family courts won't either. You may need to draft statements accordingly or obtain statements (eg from the police officer) or from other witnesses or consider your whole approach. Each situation/case is unique and therefore its impossible to advise specifically..
Hope this helps..
