Are there rules against a defense attorney harassing the person who brought charges?
Question by Peggy G : Are there rules against a defense attorney harassing the person who brought charges? Background: A neighbor tried to sue us about 5 years ago after harassing my family for about 2 years because we turned him in. The judge refused to hear the case and sent us to mediation. That family moved after going door to door and telling the people who work with their husband on a local military base to not allow their children to play with mine. For the last several years, my children have been harassed by children of these people and their friends’ children. It got so bad I had to move one child to another school. There have been multiple issues where my neighbors’ harassing my guests and my family. About two weeks ago one child, who is actually 20 now, threatened to attack two guests at my house with a bat, went home, got the bat, then returned to my house with it. We went to court and it was dismissed.
Several days later, I got a letter from the defense attorney, the same one that the judge refused to hear 5 years ago. He stated incredibly bad reasons the judge dismissed, which I found are lies after I asked the DA and the Clerks office. The attorney said I was mentally challenged, unfriendly, and harassing my neighbors, who, in fact, have harmed my children, my family, including but not limited to fracturing my 8 year old child’s front tooth. These are the same types of maliciously written letters he wrote 5 years ago, only worse, and I am sick of his clients passing the letter around to other neighbors as fact. He also stated he was going to have me removed from my home legally.
What can I do to make the attorney keep his statements limited to facts?
Additionally, there was an officer who came to my house the day before court and informed my family that he had to make a second report about the incident because the first officer did not make a proper report. I was refused a continuance although the officer did not show up nor did the witnesses (who were broken down). As the judge came into the courtroom, he nodded in the direction of parents of the young man with the bat.
I suspect this attorney called in a favor and the second officer was sent by him either to rewrite the report or to gather information. Neither officer would give me a business card.
Suggestions? I am looking for people with experience, not “get a lawyer” comments.
I looked. No, it is the attorney for the family whose child came at mine with a bat. The DA refused the continuance. I live in Craven County, NC.
Moving is not economically possible. Houses aren’t selling and although we’d love to, we can’t afford to. Best answer:
Answer by gomanyes
The exact procedure varies depending on where you live, but in many states there is an attorney general’s office that supervises public attorneys. In others, there is something called the Office of Judicial Conduct, or similar, which hears complaints about judges and prosecutors. If you tell us the county and state, we can probably guide you better.
PS I think you mean “district attorney”, not defense attorney.
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You seem contentious. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. It’s time to let this go. An attorney can’t help you, you need to let it go. If that means moving and making a new start, then do it. It’s simply not possible you are blameless in this and it’s gone on for YEARS.
First, get a small video camera so you can record these people as they are threatening you.
Someone who comes onto your property with a baseball bat should be in prison for assault (assault does not have to be battery).
You can also get a restraining order that disallows them from ever going onto your property or approaching you off your property.
You don’t need a business card from a peace officer. They have to properly identify themselves and their badge should have a number.
You also need to contact the state about this as there seems to be official misconduct by the judge, district attorney and also by some police officers. Assault complaints should not be so easily dismissed. And you should contact the state bar about misconduct by the neighbor’s own attorney.
I suspect the reason they are harassing you is because they want your property – and they are trying to drive you off and force you to sell it cheap (to one of their buddies). You might want to look up the history of your property and of their property and see if there are any suspicious stories.
I looked up Craven County, NC on Wikipedia and got the county government’s website: http://www.co.craven.nc.us/
And on that page it has a block “Registrar of Deeds”
Craven County Register of Deeds index information and certain imaged documents recorded after May 27, 1994 are available for on-line searching and printing. Index information prior to this date may be available as index information for back years is being made available. Click here for additional information on the Craven County Register of Deeds.
and the link is : http://www.co.craven.nc.us/departments/reg.cfm
The mission of the Craven County Register of Deeds is to record and maintain births, deaths, marriages, service discharges, notaries, assumed names, articles of incorporations, maps, and real estate transactions.
The State of Carolina government website is: http://www.nc.gov/
I put this phrase into the search box at the bottom of that page:
misconduct judge
and got many links, one of them being: http://www.nctreasurer.com/2010Lawbook/nccartiv/nccartiv-17.htm
Constitution of North Carolina
ARTICLE IV Judicial
Sec. 17. Removal of Judges, Magistrates and Clerks.
and this : http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2003/Bills/House/HTML/H1766v0.html
and I tried “police misconduct investigation” and got this PDF link: http://www.uncfsu.edu/crimjust/syllabi/Fall/crjc202-60.pdf
Seems Fayetteville University has courses about the topic.
Basically, you are going to need a lot of “outside help” – from people who are not part of your community, to be able to halt the harrassment by your neighbors. Long term, be prepared to move out and move on to a better neighborhood. Some people will never let go of a grudge, and their entire family (which sounds like the whole area) gets mentally contaminated with hatred.