Last Updated June 2003

Criminal Charges

You may consider contacting the police and pressing criminal charges. Likely charges include:

·         Misdemeanor or warrantless arrest ·         Assault ·         Marital Rape

Criminal Charges

• Should I hire a lawyer after I file criminal charges?
• Can I be forced to testify against my husband if I file charges of assault and battery?
• If my partner is found guilty in a criminal trial, can he be sentenced to jail?
• Can a judge order my husband/boyfriend to an alcohol, drug, or batterer's treatment program?
• If my partner destroys my property or injures me in any way which requires medical treatment, can he be ordered to reimburse me for my expenses if he is found guilty at a criminal trial?
• If I am married to the abuser, do I have to testify against him/her?
• Restraining Orders - Misdemeanor or Warrantless Arrest - Marital Rape - Spousal Privilege

Should I hire a lawyer after I file criminal charges?
In all criminal cases, the State's Attorney is in effect the woman's lawyer; so no private attorney is necessary.  If there are any witnesses to the assault, the names should be provided to the State's Attorney with a request that they be summonsed.

Can I be forced to testify against my husband if I file charges of assault and battery?
Yes.  The state can compel a spouse victim to testify against the spouse abuser if:

• The charge is the second offense; and
• The spouse victim refused to testify when sworn in at a previous trial by invoking spousal privilege.

If my partner is found guilty in a criminal trial, can he be sentenced to jail?
Yes, a jail sentence may be imposed.  However, a sentence involving probation is much more likely.  If a person is convicted of assault and/or battery, the sentence imposed by the judge will depend on the severity of the assault, the abuser's criminal record and the discretion of the sentencing judge.

Can a judge order my husband/boyfriend to an alcohol, drug, or batterer's treatment program?
Yes, a judge may order an abuser to any or all of these treatment programs, usually as a condition attached to a "stet," or as a condition of probation.

If my partner destroys my property of injures me in any way which requires medical treatment, can he be ordered to reimburse me for my expenses if he is found guilty at a criminal trial?
Yes.  A judge can order a convicted abuser to pay restitution for damage to property or for injury to the victim.  It may also be possible to get reimbursed as part of a divorce action or in a civil suit for assault.

If I am married to my abuser do I have to testify against him/her?
In Maryland there is spousal immunity.  You do not have to testify against your abuser if you are marred to them.  If you have claimed spousal immunity once before in an abuse case (a case against the same abuser) the court may not allow you to claim that immunity a second (or third) time and the court may require that you testify.

Restraining Orders
When you are threatened with imminent harm, or have already been harmed in some way by your abuser and have no other legal remedy available, a restraining order may be necessary.  Two examples of this:

• when you are either not eligible for a protection order, or
• the abuser continues to abuse you after you get a protection order.

You usually need an attorney to get a restraining order.  Contact one of the Domestic Violence legal clinics in Maryland or call the House of Ruth at 1-888-880-7884.

Misdemeanor or Warrantless Arrest
A police officer may make an arrest without a warrant for a misdemeanor not committed in the officer's presence if the officer has probable cause to believe:

• The perpetrator battered his or her spouse or cohabitant;
• There is evidence of physical injury;
• The incident was reported within 48 hours; and
• the officer believes that one of the following circumstances will occur unless the person is immediately arrested:
  • the perpetrator may cause injury to another person or damage property;
  • the perpetrator may not be apprehended;
  • the perpetrator may tamper with or destroy evidence.

Marital Rape
If you think this may be an issue, you should contact a lawyer; (See: Community Resources)

Currently, a person may be prosecuted under the rape law if the parties have lived separate and apart (without without interruption):

• As a result of to a written separation agreement executed by both the person and the person's legal spouse; or
• for at least 3 months immediately before the commission of the alleged rape or sexual offense.

A person may be prosecuted for an offense described below if ; (1) the parties are living together, and (2) the person uses force against the will and without consent of the person's legal spouse.

• First degree rape if the person engages in vaginal intercourse by force or threat of force against the will and without the consent of the other person. Article 27, Section 462(a)
• Second degree rape by force or threat of force against the will and without consent of the other person. Article 27, Section 463(a)(1)
• Third degree sexual contact if the person employs a dangerous or deadly weapon, or inflicts suffocation, strangulation, disfigurement or serious physical injury. Article 27, 464B(a)(i) and (ii)

Spousal Privilege
Maryland can now force you to testify against your spouse/batterer on a charge of assault and battery if:

• you are married to the abuser and
• the charge is the second offense within the same year and
• you refused to testify when sworn in at a previous trial invoking "spousal privilege."
  or
• if the charge involves the abuse of a child under 18.

(The old law in Maryland did force a spouse to testify against the marital partner when the abuse of a child under 18 was the alleged crime. Under the old law spouse victims could not be forced to testify.)