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A person can be accused of roommate violence in Lubbock under any circumstance where they assault a current roommate. Legally, they would be charged with domestic violence, but it would be considered roommate violence. Under the Family Code, the charged individual can be a former roommate with a protective order.
Lubbock roommate violence lawyers can further assist with what qualifies as roommate violence.
Categorization as Domestic Violence
Whether or not it is domestic violence or roommate violence can be confusing. It can be difficult to understand in which circumstances roommate violence would not be considered domestic violence. Even if a group of individuals was living together. If it is a roommate and it is an assault, it is going to be considered domestic violence.
It is complicated when a person has a defense. Like violence initiated out of self-defense. Whether or not they actually were violent towards the roommate, or if the roommate consented to the violence. For example, in a situation where roommates are out and one of them accidentally gets hurt, somebody might have a domestic violence issue on their hands even though they meant no harm and everybody consented. A Lubbock roommate violence lawyer might consider it domestic violence until a defense is successfully presented.
If the violence is not characterized as domestic violence, the charge would be simple assault or aggravated assault depending on the circumstances of what happened.
Protecting Against False Accusations
The best defense in protecting against a false accusation of a roommate or domestic violence is a good defense. In other words, a person needs a competent and experienced legal counsel that does work surrounding roommate violence every day, is not emotionally involved with the situation, understands how to navigate the court system, understands rules of evidence, understands how best to assert the person’s rights in hearings, and knows how to strategically think about whether or not to have the person testify or whether to have a judge or jury decide punishment.
Deciding whether or not to have the allegedly charged person testify or to have a judge or jury decide punitive actions makes a big difference in what sentence a person will receive after a trial. Roommate violence is too complex of an area with too much on the line to do it alone without a Lubbock roommate violence lawyer.
Contacting a Roommate Violence Lawyer
The reasons why you would want to contact a Lubbock roommate violence lawyer is threefold. First, the complexity of the law is at issue. It is a little simpler with a roommate because the person is not going to be dealing with the Family Code unless they obtain a protective order. You might still have the complexity of the court system to deal with. And you would want to protect from any ramifications to your future. Statistically, younger people fall under the category of assault and they have a future to protect. The emotional consequences of a roommate violence charge are going to affect your day-to-day life. Let a Lubbock roommate violence lawyer take care of the legal burdens.