Marie Celine Pacyga

I was charged with 5th degree domestic assault (misdemeanor) in addition to domestic assault by strangulation (felony). While is was in Anoka County jail, all I could think of aside from my innocence was ArrestedMN and the Pacyga law firm. The felony charge often results in 21 months of incarceration.... I was 100% innocent of it, the police report stated that upon examination “there is NO indication of any strangulation, no marks, no bruising, no handprints” but somehow they maintained there was probable cause for the arrest and charge. After 3 days in jail I saw the judge for a bail hearing. I had a public defender at this time. At the hearing the public defender entered a plea of not guilty, told the judge I had no priors, no history of violence, no record of anything that shows I am a dangerous individual. The judge set my bail at 25,000$ and the public defender didn’t say a word. That is an insanely high amount for a 43 year old citizen with no record. There was an option to be released to a heavily supervised program with many conditions as an alternative to the bail. Right after this, and the most important thing in relation to domestic violence in MN is the issuance of a DANCO. Domestic Assault No Contact Order. Dancos are a nightmare. They almost guarantee your relationship will end, and are great at creating a criminal out of a citizen. My partner was against it, the prosecutor said this in the courtroom. I would have said the same if given a chance to represent my side, but the court railroads them right over you. Their constitutionally is still in question. If you research them you will see that in many domestic cases the charges get dismissed but the defendant will get a Danco violation. The penalties for the violations are often harsher than the crimes. After 8 days in jail and getting released on the IDAPP program, I got out and called Ryan Pacyga. I heard their ads on KFAN and 93x and it’s all I could think about while incarcerated. I did a little research first and saw that the Pacyga law firm charges ONE fee and that covers the entire case. No retainers and hourly charges. You hire them, they take care of you. The victim in my case told the police and prosecutors that she lied in her statement, I didn’t assault her, recanted everything and told them if they continue with this it will destroy a 10 year relationship. They don’t care and pressed on so I was facing some serious consequences for things I never did. After speaking with Ryan, finding out the fee, and receiving reassurance that he would do everything he could to defend me, I was sold. The original fee quote was not cheap per se when you hear it, but when your life, future, and freedom is on the line you have to consider the alternatives (public defender, or overwhelmed inexperienced and inexpensive representation) and make a decision. With attorneys you get what you pay for. I didn’t have quite what the fee was and I told Ryan that. I lost my job while in jail and he took this into consideration and took the case for what I had which was 66% of what he asked. My case kept getting pushed back due to the covid-19 mess which was very frustrating. Ryan filed discovery quickly and did his work and came up with so much evidence. I was astonished by the amount. After my caliber date was cancelled for covid, the county basically back burnered it and didn’t bother re scheduling it. Ryan went to the prosecutor with evidence and charisma (the courts know the Pacyga name) and made a deal that I accepted. We just had to get in front of a judge. After weeks with no option to see a judge Ryan decided to ask for a mail-in remote option. At this point he handed the case to Maria and she was able to get everything done in just a few days. It felt so good to be done. A few days later I got a Danco violation from the courts failure to process the paperwork and Marie got that case dismissed in one phone call. I am so happy I hired this team. I’d probably be in jail if not.