Domestic Assault & Battery Defense in Downtown Boston, MA
An Arrest Takes Twenty Minutes. The Case Takes Months.
Most arrests for domestic violence assault arrests in Downtown Boston begin with a phone call from someone who is not involved. A neighbor through a shared wall on a triple decker. A roommate in the next room. Someone in the street outside a building on Chestnut Hill Avenue at one 100 in the morning. Officers arrive, separate two people who are still upset. take an account from whoever appears anxious and someone usually the man) leaves in handcuffs.
Massachusetts police are directed to the scene in a circumstance they have probable cause to believe an assault between household members. That decision gets made at the scene. In a few minutes later they have to make a way judgment as to what happened in the-stretch of whatever was said first. It is not a finding of guilt and it is not the end of the story.
The Law Office of Peter Cole defends people charged with cases in Downtown Boston and across greater Boston. The starting point in every one of these cases is the same: get the recordings, get the reports, and read what the Commonwealth can provide and what one person-said on-one-had night. these cases requires careful study of police reports and body-camera videos. It requires learning the history between the accused and the accuser, not just what happened on one night. It requires finding a solution that fits the particular situation, not a stereotype. Because when the accused wins, the resolution will be fair.
Domestic Charges We Handle in Downtown Boston
Assault and Battery on a Family Member
Under Chapter 265, Section 13M, this charge involves unwanted physical contact, even if minor. No injury or visible mark is required. It applies to spouses, former spouses, relatives, co-parents, and people in a substantive dating relationship, but not to roommates who have never dated.
Assault on a Family or Household Member
No contact needs to happen at all. An attempted strike, or conduct that puts someone in reasonable fear of immediate harm, is enough to charge. These cases often rest entirely on one person’s description of a gesture, which is exactly the kind of evidence that can be tested.
Violation of a 209A Abuse Prevention Order
Once a protective order is in place, violating any of its terms is a separate criminal offence. Even a text, returning home, or responding to the protected person can lead to charges because the order applies to you, regardless of who initiated the contact.
Strangulation or Suffocation
Charged under Section 15D, this is a felony from the first offense and it carries state prison exposure. Prosecutors charge it broadly. Pressure to the neck area during a struggle, with no loss of consciousness and no visible injury, is frequently charged as strangulation. What the medical records actually show, and what they do not show, becomes central.
Assault and Battery with a Dangerous Weapon
Almost any object can be alleged as a dangerous weapon depending on how it was used. A phone, a shoe, a chair. This charge raises the exposure considerably and is often added to a domestic case where the underlying account is thin.
Witness Intimidation
This charge under Chapter 268, Section 13B is added more often than most people expect, usually after a defendant contacts the complainant to apologize or to sort things out. Every call from a holding facility is recorded. A message meant to smooth things over reads very differently in a transcript, and it can turn a misdemeanor case into a felony one.
What Massachusetts Domestic Violence Penalties Look Like
Massachusetts restructured its domestic violence laws in 2014, creating Section 13M as a stand alone offense and adding procedures that apply from the moment of arrest. The exposure depends on the charge and on whether there is a prior.
Assault and Battery on a Family or Household Member
- First offense: up to 2.5 years in a house of correction, a fine of up to $5,000, or both
- Second or subsequent offense: a felony, with up to 5 years in state prison
- Completion of a certified batterer's intervention program is commonly required, typically running around 40 weeks at the defendant's own cost
- A continuance without a finding counts as a prior offense if there is ever a second charge
Related Charges
- Violation of a 209A order: up to 2.5 years in a house of correction and a fine
- Strangulation or suffocation: up to 5 years in state prison, with higher exposure where the charge is aggravated
- Witness intimidation: a felony carrying state prison exposure
- Assault and battery with a dangerous weapon: felony exposure that varies with the allegation
What Happens Before Any of That
- A person arrested on a domestic charge cannot be released on bail for six hours, except by a judge in open court
- The Commonwealth can move for a dangerousness hearing, and a person found dangerous can be held without bail while the case is pending
- A 209A order can be issued the same day, without you present, and can require you to leave your own home immediately
- The court checks a statewide domestic violence record system before setting conditions
Then there is everything the sentence does not cover. A domestic conviction ends a Massachusetts firearms license, and federal law adds a lifetime ban on possessing a firearm after a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, which reaches people who never expected a state misdemeanor to do that. It surfaces in housing applications and background checks. It can be used against you in a custody or divorce matter in the Probate and Family Court, and it can draw a Department of Children and Families investigation where there are children in the home. For anyone who is not a citizen, a crime of domestic violence is a deportable offense under federal immigration law and the risk needs to be on the table from the first conversation, not discovered at the end.
Why Downtown Boston Clients Choose the Law Office of Peter Cole
- The confrontation problem is understood and used. If the complainant does not testify, the Commonwealth may rely on witness statements or other evidence. Whether that evidence is sufficient depends on the facts of the case.
- Self defense is treated as a real defense, not a talking point. Self-defense or defense of another may apply when supported by the evidence. If appropriate, the issue can be presented to a jury.
- The restraining order side is handled, not left to sort itself out. Restraining order hearings can affect the criminal case. Careful preparation helps avoid unintended consequences.
- You work with Attorney Cole directly. Attorney Cole personally handles your case from start to finish, providing direct guidance throughout the legal process.
- Local courtrooms work in local ways. Knowing how local courts operate helps shape an effective defense strategy and informed decisions from the outset.
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1. Free Case Review
We go through the call, the arrest, the relationship, and the conditions you are now under. You get an honest read on the charge, the exposure, and the realistic outcomes. No charge, no obligation.
2. The First Few Days
This period does most of the damage. Where you sleep, what you can retrieve from the home, what you must not do, and who you must not contact. We set the ground rules clearly, because a single message sent in good faith can produce a second charge that is worse than the first.
3. Evidence and Discovery
We request the police report, the 911 recording, bodycam and dashcam footage, booking video and photographs, dispatch records, medical and ambulance records, any prior 209A applications, and the full message history between the two of you. What people send each other before and after an incident is frequently the strongest evidence in the file.
How We Handle Your Domestic Assault Case
4. Testing the account
We compare every version of the account against every other version and against the physical evidence. We look at what was reported at the scene, what was said at the hospital, what appears in the affidavit, and what the photographs actually show. Inconsistency is not a technicality here. It is the substance of the defense.
5. The Abuse Prevention Order Hearing
We prepare for the 209A hearing as its own proceeding, because it is one. What gets conceded there follows you into the criminal case, and an order that stays in place changes your housing, your firearms status, and sometimes your employment.
6. Resolution or Trial
Some cases should be dismissed, some negotiated, and some tried. That decision is made with you, with the trade offs explained plainly, including the consequences that do not appear on the sentencing sheet. It is never presented to you as already settled.
Serving Downtown Boston and Greater Boston
We defend domestic assault charges across Boston and the surrounding communities, including:
- Allston
- Back Bay
- Downtown Boston
- South Boston
- Dorchester
- Cambridge
- Brookline
- Newton
- Somerville
- Watertown
- Quincy
- Malden
- Dedham
- East Boston
- Charlestown
- Jamaica Plain
- Medford
- Waltham
Not sure whether we cover your area? Call 617-935-7657 and we will tell you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can the person who called the police drop the charges?
Not on their own. Once a complaint is issued, the case belongs to the Commonwealth and the District Attorney decides whether to go forward. Suffolk County prosecutors regularly continue with domestic cases where the complainant has asked for them to be dropped. An affidavit asking the court to stop the case can matter, but it does not end anything by itself, and it should never be drafted without legal advice on both sides.
What if the complainant refuses to testify?
It changes the case significantly. In Massachusetts a spouse cannot be forced to testify against the other spouse in a criminal case, and that protection does not extend to unmarried partners. Where the witness does not testify, the Commonwealth is left trying to prove the case through the 911 call, the officers, and the physical evidence, and much of what was said at the scene is inadmissible without the person who said it.
What does a 209A order actually do to me?
It can order you out of your home, bar you from contacting the other person in any way including through friends, require you to stay a set distance away, and require you to surrender your firearms and license. An emergency order can issue without you there. You are entitled to be heard at the hearing that follows, usually within ten court business days, and that hearing is the point at which it can be challenged.
Can I go back to my apartment to get my things?
Only if the order allows it or the court permits it, and usually only with a police escort at an arranged time. Going back without that permission is a criminal offense on its own, no matter whose name is on the lease.
Is self defense a defense to a domestic charge?
Yes, and it comes up more often than the arrest numbers suggest. If you used reasonable force to protect yourself or someone else, that is a full defense. It has to be raised properly and supported with the evidence, including your own injuries, which frequently go unphotographed because officers focused on the other person.
Can a domestic charge be sealed from my record?
A case that ends in dismissal or a not guilty finding can often be sealed, and convictions become eligible after a waiting period. Sealing is a separate application that has to be brought after the case ends, and it does not happen automatically.
Get a Free Case Review
A domestic charge in Downtown Boston gets harder to fight the longer it sits. Bodycam footage is overwritten on a schedule. Text histories get deleted. Restraining order hearing dates arrive within days. The earlier someone reviews the file, the more options remain open to you.
Call 617-935-7657 or fill out the form for a free, confidential case review.
Call 617-935-7657 or fill out the form for a free, confidential case review.