Domestic Violence Lawyers in Calgary

If you are facing domestic violence charges, you need a criminal defence lawyer in Calgary to look at your case as soon as possible.

Domestic violence is when someone commits a crime against a family member, spouse, or intimate partner. 

• Assault (Section 266), assault with a weapon or causing bodily harm (Section 267), sexual assault (Section 271), criminal harassment (Section 264), and making threats (Section 264.1) could all be charges involved in domestic violence situations.
• Assault is the most common charge for domestic violence. It happens when someone uses force on another person without their permission, tries or threatens to use force, or approaches or blocks another person while openly carrying a weapon.
• The courts look at these crimes more seriously when they happen between people who live together.
• Simple assault is a hybrid crime, which means the Crown can choose to charge the person by indictment or summarily. If it’s by indictment, you could spend up to five years in prison. If proceeded with summarily, you could go to jail for up to two years and/or pay a fine of up to $5,000.
• Assault causing bodily harm and other serious domestic violence charges can put you in prison for up to 10 years.
• Courts often also add more conditions, such as no-contact orders, required counselling programs, and probation.

Strategic Criminal Defence is a top Google-rated criminal defence firm in Calgary, with over 500 5-star reviews. Our firm, and our experienced legal team, have defended clients in over 10,000 criminal cases. Leveraging our extensive network of lawyers and decades of experience, we craft defence strategies to help those accused of domestic violence beat the charge.

The lawyers at Strategic Criminal Defence are both highly experienced and dedicated to defending your rights and future in the face of these charges. Contact a lawyer today by calling (403) 719-6410.

How Our Lawyers Help With a Domestic Violence Charge

Our lawyers can help you with your case from the start, even before charges are filed, by giving you legal advice while the police are looking into it. 

• Strategic Criminal Defence lawyers can help you avoid saying things that could be misinterpreted or used against you. We can talk to the police and prosecutors for you so that you don’t have to do it more than you have to.
• In cases of domestic violence, our team will gather proof like text messages, call logs, and witness statements that could show that the complainant’s story doesn’t add up or back up claims of self-defence.
• We might hire expert witnesses to look at injuries, talk about the mental side of relationships, or ask how true the complainant’s story is.
• We can help you with the court process and, if necessary, work to change the terms of your bail so that you can go home or stay in touch with your kids.
• We can also effectively question the complainant during the trial. This is an important skill to have when credibility is often a key issue.

Examples of Domestic Violence Charges

Here are some instances of what can result in charges of domestic violence in Calgary:

• A man violently grabbed his wife’s arm, causing bruises, during a financial dispute. He blocked the doorway and threatened to harm her if she called her parents when she attempted to leave the room. He was accused of making threats and assault.
• Text messages that implied her husband was having an affair were found by a woman. She threw his phone at him out of rage, cutting his cheek and striking him in the face. She was charged with assault with a weapon by police.
• A woman objected to her ex-husband taking their kids for his planned weekend during a custody dispute. She pushed him down the porch steps when he attempted to enter the house, causing him to sprain his ankle. She was accused of assault with bodily harm.

Consequences of a Domestic Violence Charge

Being accused of domestic violence can have a big impact on many areas of your life. There is no specific crime called “domestic violence” in the Criminal Code, but it does cover a number of crimes against a family member or close partner.

Assault is the most common charge for domestic violence. The Crown prosecutor can choose to bring an indictment for more serious cases of assault or a summary conviction for less serious cases. This choice will affect the punishments you might get.

If you are charged with assault by indictment, you could spend up to five years in jail. Assault causing bodily harm or assault with a weapon can result in a prison sentence for up to ten years. Judges are very concerned about if choking was involved because it is a strong sign of possible future deadly violence.

If you are found guilty of a summary conviction, you could go to jail for up to two years and have to pay a fine of up to $5,000.

Along with direct legal penalties, a conviction for domestic violence usually comes with probation that requires the person to go through anger management or partner assault response programs. The court probably won’t let you have weapons, and they might ask you to give a DNA sample for the national database. Most importantly, you’ll have a permanent criminal record that could make it harder to find a job, a place to live, and travel.

Also, if you are accused of domestic violence, child protection services may look into the case, which makes it harder for family court to decide who gets custody of and access to the kids.

Domestic Violence Charge Defences

Being accused of domestic violence is scary and hard to deal with. These claims are very important to the police and prosecutors, and they can change your life. But being charged doesn’t mean you will be found guilty. There are a number of legal defences that could work for your case.

Here are some possible ways to defend yourself against domestic violence charges:

• Section 34 of the Criminal Code says that you can use reasonable force to protect yourself from an attack or threat. This defence says that in some domestic cases, the person who was charged was actually responding to threats or violence from the person who complained. To successfully claim self-defence, three things must be true: you must have had a good reason to believe that force was being used against you; you must have acted to protect yourself; and your actions must have been reasonable given the situation.
• Lack of Intent (Accidental Contact): In most cases of domestic violence, the Crown must show that you used force against the complainant on purpose and without their permission. This defence says that even if there was physical contact, it wasn’t on purpose, which means you didn’t have the right intent to commit the crime.
• Alibi as a Defence: An alibi defence shows that you couldn’t have done what you’re accused of because you were somewhere else when it happened. This simple but strong defence makes the Crown’s basic facts appear weak by showing that they can’t be true. Alibis are very important in cases of domestic violence when the person making the complaint says something happened at a certain time and you can prove you were somewhere else.

Domestic Violence Charge Investigation

• When the police get a call about domestic violence, they separate the people involved and talk to each one alone so that they don’t feel scared or pressured.
• They take pictures and write down detailed descriptions of any visible injuries, even small ones like redness or small marks that could turn into bruises later. Officers also look for signs of a fight, like broken furniture or their belongings that have been moved.
• The police also collect evidence from the scene to take with them, like ripped clothes, broken things, weapons, and sometimes blood samples.
• They talk to any witnesses, especially kids who might have seen what happened, and they often use special ways to ask questions. Officers check police databases for any history of violence by either party and look for past domestic calls to the same address.
• After that, the Crown prosecutor decides whether or not to continue with charges in domestic violence cases based on the quality of the evidence.

Bail Conditions for Domestic Violence Charges

When someone is charged with a domestic violence related offence, their bail conditions when released from custody are generally strict.

• A no-contact order which says that the defendant can’t talk to the complainant directly or indirectly, is the most common condition. This condition means that you can’t call, text, email, or message them directly nor through friends or family.
• No matter who owns or rents the property, the accused almost always has to leave the family home and find a new place to live.
• If the couple has kids together, the terms of their bail become more complicated. The court might only let the two people talk to each other to set up visits with the child, and this is usually done through a third party or supervised exchanges.
• Other common conditions are bans on weapons, limits on alcohol and drugs, and required counselling programs.
• If the accused is a flight risk, they usually have to check in with a bail supervisor or police station on a regular basis and give up their passport.
• Even if the complainant agrees to or encourages you to break any bail condition, it is still a crime that could land you in jail and hurt the original case.

Frequently Asked Questions