No — domestic violence is not automatically a felony in California. Most domestic violence arrests result in either a misdemeanor charge or a “wobbler” — an offense the Riverside County District Attorney can file as either a misdemeanor or a felony depending on the alleged injury, your record, and the facts of the incident. Domestic…
False imprisonment is one of the more misunderstood charges in Riverside County, partly because it sounds far more dramatic than the conduct it often involves — there is no requirement that anyone be locked in a room, moved anywhere, or even touched. Holding onto someone’s arm so they can’t leave an argument can be enough….
A heated comment, a late-night direct message, an angry post in a group chat or on social media — online arguments escalate fast, and in California they can end in a criminal charge. If you are under investigation or have been arrested over something you wrote online while living in Murrieta, Temecula, Menifee, Lake Elsinore,…
When a custody dispute turns bitter, one parent calling the police and saying the other “kidnapped” the children is one of the most common — and most frightening — turns a case can take. The word “kidnapping” lands like a hammer. But in California, a parent or relative who takes or keeps a child in…
If your spouse, partner, or family member was just arrested for domestic violence in Murrieta, Temecula, Menifee, or anywhere else in southwest Riverside County, the next 72 hours will set the trajectory of the entire case. The booking sergeant has already made one decision. The District Attorney’s office is about to make another. By the…
What you post online — or have ever posted online — can shape the outcome of a criminal case more than most defendants realize. Prosecutors in the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office routinely obtain social media evidence in cases ranging from criminal threats to domestic violence to drug offenses. The phone seized at booking is…
It’s one of the first questions people ask after a domestic violence arrest: if my spouse doesn’t want to go forward — if they refuse to testify, or tell the prosecutor they want to drop it — does the case just go away? It’s a reasonable hope, and an understandable one. The honest answer is…
Almost no one is arrested for “domestic violence” by itself. What actually arrives — on the booking sheet, then on the complaint the District Attorney files a few days later — is a stack: corporal injury, criminal threats, damaging a phone line, vandalism, sometimes false imprisonment, sometimes a protective-order violation on top of all of…
If your spouse, partner, or family member was just arrested for domestic violence in Southwest Riverside County, the next 48 hours will shape the case. An Emergency Protective Order is already in effect. The alleged victim has been advised not to communicate with the defendant. A criminal protective order will be issued at arraignment within…
It happens more often than people expect: you defend yourself or your family from someone who attacked first — and you are the one who ends up arrested. It is one of the most frustrating positions to be in, and one of the most defensible, because in California self-defense is not a technicality. It is…
A criminal threats charge under California Penal Code § 422 looks, on paper, like a relatively contained wobbler — a misdemeanor max of one year in county jail or a felony max of three years in state prison. The number that doesn’t appear on the charging document is the one that matters most: a felony…
If you’ve been charged with assault, battery, or both, the first thing to understand is that they are two completely separate crimes under California law — not two names for the same thing, and not always charged together. Assault under Penal Code § 240 is the attempt. Battery under Penal Code § 242 is the…
If you or a loved one is facing criminal charges in Southwest Riverside County, time is critical. Contact the Law Office of Nic Cocis today for a free, no-obligation case evaluation.
