Birmingham Domestic Violence Lawyer

Defending Your Rights from Start to Finish

Ingram Law, LLC is an experienced law firm that understands the realities of domestic violence laws in Alabama. If you have been charged with domestic violence, it is crucial that you take those charges seriously. Domestic violence cases are most often the result of inflamed emotional disputes between parties that live together.

We will work quickly and efficiently to resolve your issues. Our Birmingham domestic violence attorney respects your needs and concerns, never taking them for granted. This is a firm that is available to provide legal representation for domestic violence charges in the municipal, state, and federal courts of Alabama.

Get in touch with Ingram Law, LLC today by calling (205) 335-2640.

Handling Domestic Violence Charges in Jefferson County

Each state approaches domestic violence charges and convictions in a different way. Depending on the state you live in, the penalties, fines, and punishments may differ. In Alabama, domestic violence is qualified by the type of relationship that involved parties share.

In order for a crime to qualify as domestic violence in Alabama, the relationship between those involved must be:

• Current or former spouses
• Parent and child
• Parents of a child in common
• Present or former household members
• Persons who have or had a dating relationship

Degrees of Domestic Violence

Alabama then breaks its domestic violence crimes down into three different degrees. The degree of domestic violence with which you are charged depends on the circumstances and severity of the incident.

The three degrees of domestic violence in Alabama are:

• 1st degree: This type of charge is made when you are accused of first-degree assault or aggravated stalking against the victim. If convicted, you could serve at least one year in prison without consideration of probation or parole.
• 2nd degree: This type of charge is made when you are accused of second-degree assault, intimidating a witness, stalking, second- or third-degree burglary, or first-degree criminal mischief against the victim. If convicted, you could serve at least six months in prison without consideration of probation or parole.
• 3rd degree: This type of charge is made when you are accused of third-degree assault, menacing, reckless endangerment, criminal coercion, harassment, criminal surveillance, harassing communications, third-degree criminal trespass, second- or third-degree criminal mischief, or third-degree arson against the victim. If convicted, you could serve at least 30 days without consideration of reduction in time. If you receive a second conviction, you could serve at least 10 days in a city or county jail. Any convictions after that are no longer misdemeanors; they are felonies.

Our Birmingham domestic violence attorney can listen to your side of the story and assess the charges against you before crafting the appropriate legal strategies to defend you from harsh sentences and punishments.

Other domestic violence charges to be on the lookout for include:

• Domestic violence by strangulation: This type of charge is made when you are accused of committing assault or menacing by strangulation or suffocation against the victim.
• Violation of a protective order: This type of charge is made when you are accused of refusing to obey a protective order (i.e. a restraining order). If convicted, you could serve up to a year in jail and pay a fine of up to $6,000. Further convictions could result in longer stays in jail.

Ingram Law, LLC Is Here to Help

Most of these charges carry court costs and fines if you are convicted. The only way to waive those fines is if you can show the court that you have inadequate funds to pay. Also, keep in mind that should your case be dismissed, your legal team can then go back and have the case expunged from your criminal record.

Before you do anything else in your case, contact Ingram Law, LLC online or call us at (205) 335-2640.