Lawyers Manual - Unified Court System

176 Lisa Fischel-Wolovick
called the police. When the police arrived Ms. C could not speak
English and was helpless as her boyfriend alleged that she had
thrown the baby down the stairs. The baby was immediately
taken to the hospital emergency room where he was found to be
unharmed. The Administration for Children’s Services (ACS)
was contacted and after a thorough investigation they
determined that the boyfriend’s allegations were without merit.
However, ACS did believe that Ms. C and her children were in
danger and referred her to a domestic violence shelter.
Unfortunately, the police immediately arrested her and the
Criminal Court judge issued the abuser an order of protection
against Ms. C for himself and their five-week-old baby.
Although Ms. C entered a domestic violence shelter after
arraignment, with her older children from a previous marriage,
she was unable to have any contact with her infant.
An investigation by her attorney, a domestic violence
advocate, revealed that the boyfriend had been convicted of
assaulting his previous girlfriend in the presence of her children,
just three months before Ms. C was arrested. In fact, the father
of Ms. C’s youngest child was currently on probation for this
assault and had been ordered to stay away from both his former
wife and her children. Upon learning this information, the
Criminal Court judge amended the batterer’s existing order of
protection “to be subject to any Family Court orders of custody
or visitation.” Subsequently, this same attorney brought the
father’s criminal record to the attention of the Bronx Family
Court judge presiding over Ms. C’s petition for custody. The
Family Court judge immediately issued both a protective order
as well as a temporary order of custody of the baby on behalf of
Ms. C.
It took many more months before prosecutors agreed to
dismiss the criminal case against Ms. C.
Application of the primary aggressor standards, by taking note of a
complainant’s criminal history and record of protective orders against him, would
have reduced the risk of Ms. C being arrested. Diversity training, an understanding
of cross-cultural and language issues, would also have decreased the likelihood
of her arrest. New developments such as the Integrated Domestic Violence Part
would also have increased the communication between the two court systems.