I am subpoenaed to appear in court i am the victim I dont want to press charges do I have to go to court to testify?

Will I get into problems if I don't go to court or if I go and don't say anything? - Is this your question? Add additional information
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Brian Richard Dinday

Brian Richard Dinday

Contributor Level 8
If no one personally handed you a subpoena to appear, you are not required by law to go at all. Nor are you required to agree to meet someone to hand the subpoena to you, nor even to answer your door.

If you have already been served with a subpoena, you have to go. However, in 34 years of law practice I have never seen a victim in a domestic violence case jailed for not showing up in court. If you appear in court and refuse to answer, you CAN be held in contempt. If you testified and claimed not to remember, then they'd just read the first version of the "facts" you gave the police to the jury or play the 911 tape and get the conviction.

This is a complicated scenario and there is a lot more information on the dynamics of this problem at http://lawyer-domestic-violence.com/domestic_violence.htm and at http://dinday.com/info05.htm if you wish to read further.
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