Selected by our Peers - an Honor and a Privilege

On Friday, November 22, 2024 Ted Lothstein and Kaylee Doty presented a lecture on the litigation of domestic violence cases at the Annual Meeting of the New Hampshire Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

It is an honor to be selected to teach criminal litigation to an organization whose membership includes hundreds of criminal defense lawyers, including many of the very best criminal defense lawyers in northern New England. We love to teach for many reasons, not the least of which is that when preparing to teach a subject, we learn new things that will help us in our future cases defending clients accused of domestic violence offenses.

Highlights of the Lecture and Lecture Materials

• The law of self-defense and defense of property in NH provides a powerful shield to the accused in these cases. If there is any evidence to support the view that the accused man or woman acted in self-defense, the government must disprove the defense beyond a reasonable doubt. This will be the subject of a future post here.
• Your 2d Amendment rights will be lost if you are the losing party in a civil domestic violence protective order (DVPO, commonly referred to as a restraining order) for the duration of the Order, which are ordered for one year but can be renewed for many more years.
• Your 2d Amendment rights will be lost for life if you are convicted of domestic violence simple assault or domestic violence criminal threatening with a deadly weapon.
• Juries see these cases very differently than most judges. We have lost several domestic violence cases before a judge, but on appeal, we have gone on to win them with juries, winning many not guilty verdicts in these cases.
• Prosecutors tend to be more agenda-driven in these cases. We showed our audience that one prosecutor wrote an article in the NH Bar News, claiming that if you meet a man who has a "charming" personality, that's a red flag that he probably abuses women. Where did this NH prosecutor find scientific support for this whacko proposition? The National Academy of Sciences? A peer-reviewed study by an eminent researcher? No, the "Australian-based Tweed Valley Women's Services." Not one prosecutor wrote into the publication to challenge this viewpoint. No wonder that we need to bring our client's cases before a jury of their peers to get justice.
• In other types of criminal cases, because the government bears the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, criminal defense lawyers tend to avoid calling their client as a witness in his or her own defense unless absolutely necessary. In domestic violence cases by contrast, we often call our clients as witnesses, which requires extensive care and preparation on our part. We have to be careful, however, to let our clients remain their authentic selves as they tell the truth about what really happened. Contrary to popular belief, being a smooth, savvy, well-rehearsed witness can end up being a ticket to jail, not freedom. Jurors know the difference between an authentic, unpolished, imperfect person who fears public speaking but honors the truth, versus a smooth-talking salesman who is comfortable taking on whatever may come during cross-examination.
• Here is the Agenda for the seminar.
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