Will Your Case Be Dismissed if the Victim Wants it Dismissed; What to Expect at Your First Court Date

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The criminal justice system operates on rules that often surprise those caught in its machinery. Whether you're facing charges or supporting someone who is, understanding these realities can make a critical difference in case outcomes.

Most people believe that when a victim wants charges dropped, prosecutors simply comply. The truth is far more complicated. As we explore in this episode, victims don't control criminal prosecutions—they're essentially witnesses in cases brought by the state. While victim cooperation matters, prosecutors make the final call on whether cases proceed. This misunderstanding leads many defendants to false expectations and missed opportunities for effective defense strategies. We break down what actually influences dismissal decisions and how attorneys work within these constraints.

What happens at your first court date? Many expect immediate resolution or feel pressured to accept whatever offer is presented. Instead, these initial appearances are primarily administrative, with judges confirming attendance and attorneys beginning negotiations that typically span multiple court settings. Making uninformed decisions at this stage can have lasting consequences. We walk through exactly what to expect, how to prepare, and why rushing to resolution rarely serves your interests.

Perhaps most crucially, we tackle the dangerous myth that innocent people should freely speak with investigating officers. Recent firings of San Antonio police officers for falsifying statements and other misconduct highlight why even truthful statements can be twisted or misrepresented. The alarming conditions at Bexar County Jail—with eight deaths already this year—further demonstrate why protecting your rights from the beginning is essential. Don't navigate this system alone. 

If you have questions about anything we say in this podcast or if you're being charged with a crime in the San Antonio area, call us at 210-775-0852 or click the link below to schedule a free consultation.
 
 https://seanhenricksen.com/schedule-consultation/

Click the link below to receive 4 Things You Should Do If You've Been Arrested:
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You can also find out answers to some of your questions on our Youtube page:
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Sean Henricksen Law Firm

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210-405-6410

106 S. St. Mary's St., Ste 445

San Antonio, Texas 78205

www.seanhenricksen.com

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome back to another episode of what to
expect when you're arrested.
This is your host, seanHendrickson, from the Sean
Hendrickson Law Firm, where wehelp good people like you avoid
the devastating consequences ofcriminal charges.
We've got a few topics we'regoing to talk about today.
First off we're going to talkabout is a case going to get
dismissed just because thevictim wants it dismissed?

(00:23):
We'll talk about what youshould expect on your first
court date and we'll also talkabout whether or not you should
talk to the police if you'reinnocent.
After that, we do have somethings that are in the news.
There were a couple of officersthat were fired and the jail
was found not to be incompliance, so we'll talk about
that First off.
Before we get to that, I dohave a free download for you.

(00:45):
It's five things you should bedoing if you've been arrested.
If you click down in the shownotes below, there's a link
there.
If you click on that, we'llsend that right out to you.
First off, I do want to talkabout a topic that I get a lot,
or a question I get a lot.
If a victim wants a casedismissed, does that mean it's
going to get dismissed?
Wants a case dismissed.

(01:05):
Does that mean it's going toget dismissed?
And the short answer is no.
Ultimately it's up to the stateto decide whether or not to
arrest somebody.
So that'd be the police makingthe decision about whether or
not to arrest somebody.
And if they do, then it's up tothe prosecutor and the district
attorney's office to make thedecision about whether or not
they're going to dismiss thecase.
The victim or alleged victim.

(01:27):
On a case like in an assaultcase or something like that,
their role is that they would bea witness at trial.
So if the case was to go totrial, then the state would call
them as a witness to testify totry and prove that the
defendant is guilty, and that'stheir whole role.
Ultimately, there are thingsthat a victim can do that make

(01:49):
it more likely that the case canget dismissed, and that's going
to vary between differentcounties because every district
attorney's office handles thingsa little bit differently.
There are affidavits ofnon-prosecution that work in
some cities and some counties.
In Bexar counties those don'tactually work very well to get a
case dismissed.
But that's why it's importantto find a good attorney who

(02:12):
knows how to get these casesdismissed and who is willing to
work with a victim, becausethere are things that they can
do to make it more likely thatthe case does get dismissed.
Something else I wanted to talkabout is what you should expect
at your first court date,whether you're being charged
with a family violence case orreally any other type of case.
Normally a case is going totake several court settings to

(02:35):
be resolved, unless it's like atraffic ticket, but anything
higher than that.
There's going to be multiplesettings normally.
I normally recommend againstaccepting a plea offer on the
first court date just becausethere's so much that's unknown
at that time.
The DA's office usually hasn'tdone much work on the case at
that time.
So Normally you should plan onbeing there early, because

(02:57):
getting through traffic, gettingthrough security, finding the
courtroom it always takes longerthan it feels like it should.
So try and get there early andwhen the judge comes out,
they're going to call outeverybody's name who's got a
court set for that day, andyou'll stand up and let the
judge know that you're there andthat's pretty much all there is
for you to do.
It's going to be your attorneythat does the rest of the work,

(03:19):
so they're going to be the oneswho will talk with the
prosecutor, discuss whateverissues that are made.
If the prosecutor makes anoffer, your attorney will relay
that offer to you and if yourcase does end up getting reset
which is what normally happensthen your attorney is going to
be the one who will handlegetting that case reset and

(03:39):
getting you the information onwhether there's a court date
already set or if that'ssomething that's going to come
by email.
Really after you let the judgeknow that you're there.
It's just kind of a lot ofwaiting around and I try and get
people in and out as quickly aspossible, but there are other
attorneys who may have a lot ofother cases set in other

(03:59):
courtrooms and so it can take awhile to get out, depending on
the situation.
Another question that I hear alot is should I talk to the
police if I'm innocent?
And my answer to that is almostalways going to be no.
If you're being investigated bythe police, then I almost
always recommend to exerciseyour right to remain silent and

(04:21):
demand to speak with an attorney.
You've got those constitutionalrights and there's a reason
that you have those rights.
If the police are investigatingyou, then they've got some
reason to believe that youcommitted a crime.
That could be something likesomebody telling the police that
you assaulted them.
That could be something likesomebody telling the police that
you assaulted them, or it couldbe them pulling you over and

(04:42):
smelling alcohol in your breath,and so they're investigating
you for that reason.
They've got some informationthat you've committed a crime
and they're trying to see ifthey can corroborate that
information.
And the more you talk with themeven if you're not making
outright admissions the more ofthat information that you
corroborate, the more likely itis that they're going to take
you to jail and charge you witha crime.

(05:03):
If they can't corroborate anyinformation, if they just have a
hunch or something, some lowlevel of suspicion, then you get
to walk away without having togo to jail, and that's what I
always recommend, even if theywere going to arrest you anyway,
because they have enoughinformation to arrest you.
If they are questioning you,then they're trying to build up

(05:23):
their case against you, andthat's why I always recommend
talking with an attorney beforeyou make a decision about
whether or not to talk with thepolice.
We did have some informationthat came in the news recently
this week.
So there were two officers fromSAPD that were fired and they
were fired for separately.
It wasn't like a joint firing,but essentially there were

(05:47):
sexual harassing comments thatwere made.
There was an officer who waslying on written statements and
one of the officers wasn'tturning on their body cam and
one was making false statementsin some statements that he made
regarding a case.
And I wanted to mention thisfor a couple of reasons.
First off, it's important foryour attorney to know what

(06:08):
officers are being fired,because if those officers are
important witnesses on your case, that's important information
that we need to know, because ifthat officer was going to be a
witness that was required toprove up your case, this could
be a reason that your case couldget dismissed.
The other reason that I wantedto talk about this is for us to

(06:31):
be aware that there are officersout there who are relying on
statements, who are not turningon their body cam when they
should be.
And both of those things arevery important because when I
look at a police report, I seethis as the officer writing his
version of what happened, andpolice reports are always

(06:53):
written in a way to support theofficer's decision to make that
arrest.
What I really wanna look atafter looking at the police
report is.
I wanna look at the body cam tosee if those two match up.
There have been a lot of timeswhere I've read a police report
and I've thought we've got nochance of winning this case, and
then I look at the body cam andit's just completely different.

(07:16):
There's so much that's left out, there are things that are
mischaracterized, and that's whyit's important that we have
both of those pieces ofinformation.
The other thing that I wanted totalk about was the Bexar County
Jail.
Recently, there was the eighthdeath this year that happened in
the Bexar County Jail, which isa much higher number than we

(07:37):
should be having.
Ultimately, right now we have ajail that is not a good jail,
and I recommend people who arearrested to try and bond out as
quickly as possible, because theBexar County Jail is not a
place that you want to be.
It's not really like a toughlove situation or anything else,
like letting people sit in jailfor a little while.

(07:57):
My recommendation is always totry and get them out as quickly
as possible.
One it's just a terribleenvironment to be in where their
life could be at risk, but thesecond is that the longer
somebody's in jail, the harderit is for us to get a good
result for them.
Let's say, there's somebodywith, like, an assault case or
some other type of a case wherewe've got a good case and this

(08:19):
case should ultimately end upgetting dismissed.
We've got a good case and thiscase should ultimately end up
getting dismissed.
If the state makes an offerwhere that person could get
probation, they're much morelikely to take that probation
offer just so they can get outof jail, even if their case is
likely to get dismissed later on, because people don't want to
be stuck in jail, especiallywhen you have a jail environment
like ours.

(08:41):
If you have any questions aboutany of the topics that I talked
about today, or if you've gotsomething that you would like us
to discuss or a question thatyou'd like us to have answered,
if you go in the show notes,there is a place there where you
can send us a message directly.
You can also email me.
My email information is in theshow notes as well.
It's Sean at SeanHendricksoncom.

(09:02):
Information is in the shownotes as well.
It's Sean at SeanHendricksoncom.
Or you can give us a call at210-405-6410.
And lastly, if you have a casehere in San Antonio, feel free
to schedule a free consultation.
There's another link in theshow notes for that.
We'd be happy to discuss yourcase with you and let you know
how we may be able to help youout.

(09:22):
I hope that you have a greatday.