Need some advice NOW! Please help!!

On Sept. 27 me and husband got into an argument at a bar. He left and went home while I stayed a while before walking a few blocks to our home. The door was locked and he was in bed so I walked 2 houses down to my mothers because I had left my key in the house. My children were at her house asleep and had clothing to sleep in but didn't have anything for the following day so I wanted to go back home to wake my husband to get some and to also get my dog. Since we had both been drinking my mother thought it was best to have the police assist me in getting my stuff. Officer A met us at my home asked me what was going on and I told them I wanted the clothes and the dog. Also told them that the kids did have clothes until morning. The officer knocked on the door and my husband never got up to answer. In the mean time Officer B arrived. Officer B seemed aggitated and didn't say anything until I asked him if I would go to jail for breaking in to my own home which he replied that he couldn't not tell me that I couldn't break into my own house. I told them the kitchen windows were unlocked and I tried to use a stick to pry the screen open with no luck. Officer A asked me to show him the bedroom window and I walked him around to the back of the house where he knocked on the window several times with no luck. He asked me if my husband was capeable of hurting himself because my mother had evidently told them that he had threatened to kill himself earlier in the night. I told them he had never told me anything like that and that he wouldn't do that. I told him that my husband was a very sound sleeper and that he was pretty drunk so he was most likely passed out and just couldn't hear us. Me and Officer A walked around to the side of the house where we met my mother by the side door. Officer B was still on the front porch. At this point I was getting more than mad and made the comment to Officer A that if I could get in I was going to kick my husbands a**. I told him I should just bust the glass out of the side door. He then asked me if there were weapons in the house and I told him that yes we had 1 handgun and several rifles but they weren't loaded and we didn't even have bullets for any of them. Officer A asked me if I wanted him to bust the glass in the door and I replied that I didn't give a f***. He used his aspbaton to hit the lower right side several time and the glass didn't even crack. I then told him that we could get into the unlocked kitchen window easier but he just kept hitting the glass until it finally cracked. It took several minutes and a lot of force for him to bust the glass enough to get his hand through to unlock the door. Me and my mother went into the house first with Officer A following behind. He went into the living room and unlocked the front door to let Officer B inside and me and my mother went straight to the bedroom. I turned on the light and pulled the covers down to find my husband still sleeping. After we had words he got up while I was getting my stuff. Officer A told him that he needed to lay the f*** back down and my husband told him to mind his own business that it was his f****** house and he didn't have to. My husband then went into the living room where he and my mother got into an argument. Officer B grabbed my husbands arm and told him if he knew what was good for him he would go to bed. My husband told him to get his hands off of him and that our police department was nothing but a f****** joke. He then released his arm and my mother and Officer A went out the front door. I followed behind holding the screen door for Officer B. I heard my husband say something that I couldn't make out as he shut the door and Officer B went back through the door and tackled my husband with no warning. He did not give him the chance to go peacefully. I heard my husband tell him he wasn't going to fight and he put his hands behind his back. When they stood him up me, my husband and my mother were all confused as to what had just happend and asked them several times what he was being arrested for but neither of them would answer us. He was taken to jail and bonded out the following morning to find out that he was charged with assault on a police officer, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. He retained an attorney and his first court date is this Friday. The only thing we have heard is that the charge was upgraded to a felony because of bodily injury. We still didn't know what exactly they were saying he had done to Officer B until today. A friend had talked to Officer B this morning and he is claiming that my husband hit him in the back with the door knob when he shut the door and left a place in his back. I'm 5'2 and the knob comes to my lower back just above my hip. Officer B is over 6ft tall so there is no way the knob would have hit his back. They are also claiming that I was the one to bust the glass in the door. The door had double payne safety glass. I weigh under 100lbs. and I'm almost positive that I couldn't have broke it. It took a lot of force for Officer A to even crack it. My husband has never been in trouble for anything. The only thing on his record is a seat belt violation from a few years ago. He really is a good guy that has even worked as a corrections officer at the county jail. I was standing right there and did not see the door hit Officer B but if it did it was an accident. I'm wondering what the laws in Indiana are on this and if we have a defense. I don't feel like the situation was handled correctly from the start. I feel they should have sent me back to my mothers and let both of us calm down. I feel they aggravated a already hostile situation. Sorry this turned out to be so long but I felt I needed to explain the whole situation. I have wrote a 4 page statement for his lawyer expaining the night in more detail. I should also say that we live in a really small town. Everyone here knows that our cops don't play nice and most are afraid to stand up to them. Our cops mess up all the time. They have went on raids only to find they had the wrong address and it has been said that they set people up. Our dispatcher/reserve officer was just arrested for child porography and although he is no longer at the police station he is still working for our city. He even admitted to it but he is our Mayors son so I guess that make it ok!lol Our mayor has even been arrested for DUI and somehow got the charges dropped. It's all so crazy, this town is so messed up and I don't see how they can get by with it all!! I would appreciate any help I can get and thanks in advance for just ready all of this!

This is SO not one I am going to win.

I'll pass.

Could you please explain to me why you wouldn't win this one? We got the official police report today and he is stating that the door hit him in the back of the head and that his left arm was caught in the door when my husband shut it. He didn't even know he did it! Doesn't there have to be intent or something? Sorry we have never been through anything like this and I'm just confused as to how this all works. The plea is for 1yr!! I really need some advice and the lawyer is just telling us not to worry. How the heck are we supposed to not worry when we will lose everything we have if he goes to jail for a year!

The answer to your specific question is yes and no. On a general level, mens rea (wrong or evil intent)must be present for a crime to be committed. Example: If I have a heart attack while I am driving and crash the car and kill someone, I have no itent-a crime has not been committed (with the exception of course that I knew I had a medical condition and I should not have been driving).

Now, if I get drunk and hit someone, did I intend to kill someone?? No. No intent to kill someone but a crime has still been committed.

In my opinion (and this isn't legal advice, just opinon) the other things that happened before the "door in the back" incident will make it very hard for you to assert it was an accident. Lets say no cursing, rudeness, or belligerant behavior took place. In that case, it would be easier for you to assert it was an accident and, in fact, you didn't even know it happened. However, given the behavior that proceeded the incident in question, it will be hard for a jury to believe that it as not intentional. Notice I am not saying that it was intentional--just explaining and trying to do so objectively.

At this point, I would rest solely on the judgement of your attorney. If you are not comfortable with him, I would find another. And, another thing about which I would be concerned----DSS. If you read your posting as someone who was not there, saying you were in a bar while your kids were at your mothers and you thought it important to go home and get clothes and the dog would imply that perhaps your judgment was not what it should be. Of course, it may be a result of the alcohol, and hopefully that is the case. But the entire night as you wrote it is an essay in immature and irresponsible behavior that, to a social worker, very well MAY paint you both in an unfavorable light. And THEN to get the police involved in a situation that a large majority of adults would NEVER have been in says to a court, judge, and even social worker that you and your husband are not able to to effectively handle conflict in a safe and appropriate manner. I am NOT implying any judgement nor am I trying to be critical---just telling you, now that your activities of that night will be under a microscope, where you may run into more trouble than you imagined. I hope it turns out as you hope and that something was learned for having to go through this unfortunate experience.

Good luck.

Thank you so much for your reply!! I know how it must look with the way he acted that night but at the same time I believe anyone drunk or sober would have been upset with the way he was woke that night. I didn't even really stop to think about this getting the children involved. I knew they were safe that night and in bed. They had 2 other adults with them when me and my mom left to go to my house. This is also a one time occurence. We have never fought this way before. My children never see us even argue. I can think of 5 times in the last 12 years that we have even went to a bar so drinking isn't a issue in our home. I don't even have alcohol in the house. The drinking played a huge role in my actions that night and I am ashamed/embarrassed by the way I acted. I just hope this will somehow turn around for us although it seems to be looking grim. My mom is the one that wanted the police involved. I wanted to go alone and I'm sure I would have beat on the door and then gave up. I guess I shouldn't think of what might have been though. Again thanks so much!

Thanks for the reply, I appreciate your candor about that night. I don't mean to suggest that at that moment your kids were in any danger, I just mean that unfortunately AND UNFAIRLY, you CAN be portrayed and judged, NOT on the whole, but on that one night of poor judgment. Hugely unfair.

I don't have a crystal ball, but I cannot see him actually going to jail. Jails are FULL of people who are a threat to society----and of course, his attitude (acting properly repentant, even if the cop acted like a jerk that night) and his past GOOD behavior really will go a long way in helping.

When is the court date? I will be thinking of you.

The date was set for Friday but has been waived. They haven't rescheduled so I'm not sure when it will be. It worries me with Christmas coming up! Our children are still young and I know it will break my husbands heart if he isn't here for it. We have been told to video a re-enactment of the scenerio the officer used in his police report. He is trying to say that he was almost out the door when my husband slammed the door hitting him in the back of the head, back, and pinned his left arm in the door on his way out. Anyone with any common sense would realize that it would be impossible for all 3 body parts to be impacted at the same time. You walk in a forward motion so your foot or leg would most likely be hit. It would be possible to be hit in the back and it would be possible to have your arm pinned but unlikely to have both. If you slam my front door the door would make contact and then bounce back open so his arm wouldn't have been pinned and he wouldn't have had to push the door back open as he claims in the report. We have tried several ways to hit your head and unless your body is in a very strange position it is impossible. His report doesn't add up and I am hoping that we can prove this. It reads like a 5yro. wrote it and half of it didn't even make any sense.

I think their point is not so much the nuts and bolts of the incident in question, but the fact that a legitimate threat existed to the police officer-----and the problem is going to be the other things that happened that night that would suggest to a reasonable person that the officer could have been in danger---and given that domestic disputes are the most dangerous for offiers, the proverbial tables are tilted. The issue of did the door hit him or not is really not the issue. Hope that make sense.

No it honestly doesn't make much sense to me!lol I thought you would have to actually commit the act in order to be found guilty. I'm not saying that I doubt what you are saying but it's hard to grasp. It's really kind of messed up that things work the way they do. How do they pick the jury? Is it people within your county? I don't know if it will end up going that far but he is adamant on clearing his name. It's hard for me to put myself on the outside of the situation to look at it from the other view. To me the fact that his report is inconsistent would lead someone to believe that he could have lied about the whole thing. Also knowing what I know about this town and our police departments rep also makes it more possible in my eyes. I won't be the one making the decision though so I see what you are saying. At this point I just have to have faith that it will all be ok. When it's all over we are getting out of this town! This place is a lifetime special waiting to happen!