A Law Firm With 20+ Years of Experience

Michael Pariente has been on the forefront fighting to protect Nevadan’s constitutional rights.  Since the Andersen decision, local city councils across Nevada have scrambled to pass ordinances to try and get around the Andersen decision.  Mr. Pariente has been zealously defending his clients inside the courts as well as outside the courts publicly calling the Las Vegas City Council’s attempt to create a domestic violence ordinance to circumvent the Nevada Supreme Court’s ruling in Andersen as “absurd, pathetic and desperate” and vowed to take the matter to the Nevada Supreme Court or the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.  https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/politics-and-government/las-vegas/las-vegas-might-prosecute-domestic-violence-without-gun-provision-1858802/?clearUserState=true

CHANGING THE LAWS ALL OVER

Just recently, in an unpublished Nevada Supreme Court decision, a Clark County District Court Judge sided with Mr. Pariente who argued the Henderson City Council’s domestic violence ordinance unconstitutional because it conflicted with Nevada State law and was an illegal attempt by the City of Henderson to get around the Nevada Supreme Court’s Andersen decision mandating a jury trial for battery constituting domestic violence charges.  The City of Henderson is appealing their loss to the Nevada Supreme Court where Mr. Pariente is confident his client will win finding the city ordinance unconstitutional. 

WHAT HAPPENS IF I DON’T SHOW UP FOR TRIAL TO TESTIFY?

The prosecutor will always send subpoenas to the person who is the alleged victim of a battery constituting domestic violence and to any witnesses who reportedly witnessed the alleged fight.  A subpoena is usually hand delivered by an investigator with the district attorney’s office or the city attorney’s office depending on which prosecuting office is handling the matter.  If the person they are trying to subpoena is not available, the investigator will often attempt to call the witnesses over the phone and tell them to appear for court.  Another way is the investigator mails the subpoena to the last known address of the accuser or witness and then calls that person to make sure the subpoena was received.  Finally, for accusers or witnesses who are avoiding service, a police officer will often pull over the person while driving and serve that person.

Children are often subpoenaed in domestic violence prosecutions when they are witnesses to the alleged domestic abuse.  Children are generally served through their parents or through the school where the children attend.  A good defense lawyer will always attempt to challenge the competency of the child witness as very young children tend to not be competent to testify. 

What is Domestic Violence?

Some of the most common domestic violence offenses occurring in Las Vegas include:

• Stalking
• Domestic Assault
• Domestic Battery
• Domestic Battery with Strangulation
• Sexual Assault/Battery
• Child Abuse
• Child Neglect
• Child Endangerment
• Elder Abuse

USE OF BODY WORN CAMERAS IN THE PROSECUTION OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CASES

Due to the Nevada Legislature’s passage of NRS 289.830, police officers are now required to use body worn cameras (BWC) when responding to domestic violence calls.  The use of the body worn cameras can be extremely compelling evidence in a prosecution of domestic battery.  Oftentimes the body worn camera video contains the accuser’s detailed account of the abuse that may have occurred and/or defendant’s confession, inconsistent statements about what occurred, and sometimes evidence of intoxication. 

Mr. Pariente is litigating the body worn camera recordings that occur inside residences.  He files motions to suppress the video footage when the video footage is taken inside the residence.  This is because when the police take video footage inside a residence when responding to a domestic violence call, they violate NRS 289.830(1)(d)(1).  Your attorney should view the video and make a judgment call as to whether the video is favorable to your case or unfavorable to your case and proceed to attempt to suppress the video footage if it was filmed in violation of NRS 289.830. 

USE OF THE RECORDING OF 911 CALLS IN THE PROSECUTION OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CASES

Oftentimes the police are summoned to a residence where a 911 call is placed alleging that someone in that residence committed an act of domestic violence.  Your lawyer must always obtain the recording of the 911 call to police made in your case.  Sometimes there are inconsistent statements made by the accuser in the 911 call and other times it’s possible to hear if the accuser is slurring his or her words in the call meaning the 911 caller may have been intoxicated at the time of the 911 call and therefore his or her memory may be discounted if he or she was impaired at the time of the offense.  In other calls, you may be heard making exculpatory statements in the audio recording which may be useful in defending you in trial.  Exculpatory statements may include the defendant denying he or she hit the accuser or may include statements asserting self-defense.  It’s far better to admit these recordings to bolster your defense in trial than having you testify in court and be subject to cross-examination by an experienced prosecutor.  If you don’t testify, your refusal to testify cannot be used against you in trial.  The judge cannot and will not consider your refusal to testify as evidence of guilt.

Finally, your lawyer should take great care to attempt to exclude statements in the 911 calls that are inadmissible and should also make certain that the affidavit to admit the 911 call log complies with Nevada rules of evidence.