Domestic Violence and the Affluent Couple

People who aspire to be rich might point to the way the consequences of domestic violence vary according to socioeconomic status. If you are part of the 99 percent and you get into a physical fight with your spouse, your neighbors and enemies will post about it on social media; in the old days, the world would laugh as footage of you, wearing an undershirt and sweatpants, being led out of your house in handcuffs, aired on Cops. Rich people, by contrast, have an easier time sweeping domestic violence under the rug. They can bribe their spouses to let the matter go, and if that doesn’t work, they can get a collaborative divorce, where the only documents the court gets are the ones that detail the couple’s property division; there is no court decision where the judge narrates the events in the couple’s marriage and divorce that led the judge to divide the couple’s marital property and debts the way he or she did. Being publicly accused of domestic violence harms a person’s reputation in ways that, for example, being accused of drug possession or tax fraud does not. As with all crimes, getting accused of domestic violence and acquitted, or getting the charges dropped before the trial, is better than getting convicted, and as with all crimes, people accused of domestic violence are innocent until proven guilty. Here, our Miami domestic violence defense lawyer explains how a Miami businessman is facing misdemeanor charges for domestic battery.

Meet the Florida Business Tycoons Accused of Domestic Violence

Several years ago, police responded to a domestic violence call at the house of a Miami businessman who owns tens of millions of dollars of real estate. Based on what his wife said to the 911 operator, and to the police when they arrived, they arrested the man on suspicion of misdemeanor domestic battery. The criminal court later dropped the charges when the defendant persuaded the court that his wife had a motive to fabricate the accusations. Specifically, the couple had signed a prenuptial agreement that said that, if the couple divorced and there had been no domestic violence during the marriage, the wife would receive only a modest amount of money; the amount she would receive varied according to how long the couple stayed married. Meanwhile, if the couple divorced after a domestic violence incident, defined as one where the husband was convicted of a misdemeanor or felony domestic violence charge, she would receive the couple’s marital home, a multimillion-dollar waterfront mansion. The court decided that the evidence that the accuser was lying to get the mansion was much stronger than the evidence that the elderly defendant had hit his much younger wife.

Meanwhile, this year, another South Florida businessman is also facing misdemeanor domestic battery charges. A man who owns several restaurants in South Florida was arrested after his wife called the police while the couple was arguing. His wife told the police that he had grabbed her by the hair and tried to smash her head against the wall, and that after she freed herself from his grasp, he chased her out of the room, yelling threats. The defendant told the police that he did not touch his wife at all during the argument, except when he grabbed her arm to defend himself when she lunged at him. The case is still pending; news reports did not indicate whether the defendant has entered a plea.

Is There Such a Thing as a Minor Incident Involving Domestic Violence?

Both of these incidents involving South Florida businessmen involve apparently minor incidents of domestic violence, where no one suffered serious injuries. Of course, most cases where someone dies or suffers severe injuries at the hands of a spouse or family member do not happen out of nowhere; there was usually at least one prior incident where the couple called the police, but there were no arrests or convictions. This is why Florida and several other states issue Hope Cards to domestic violence accusers even if no criminal charges result. The accusers can keep the cards in their wallets, and if there is a subsequent incident, they can show the cards to the police the second time, to show that this is a recurring pattern.

Contact Our Criminal Defense Attorneys

A South Florida criminal defense lawyer can help you if you are facing criminal charges for domestic violence offenses such as misdemeanor domestic battery.  Contact Ratzan & Faccidomo in Miami, Florida for a confidential consultation about your case.

Source:

wsvn.com/news/local/florida/restaurateur-louie-bossi-arrested-on-domestic-battery-charge-report-states-he-told-wife-im-going-to-kill-you/