I was married and my husband physically, sexually and verbally abused me. I charged him once with physical abuse and ended up being so scared he would kill me that I changed my plea and he got off. I suffered two years of traumatic stress and it has affected my life negatively probably forever, I think. I saw a sexual assault therapist for eighteen months weekly. Can I charge him with any of these crimes or has the statutes run out? Happened for eight years. Been on my own for two now. Lost soul

You have to find out the statue of limitation.
What state are you in ?

You have been on your own for two years now. If you feel there may be problems after you file, best to leave it. Move on. I know it's hard but may be safer.

Also it will be hard to prove unless there was incident reports file with police, hospital reports, and actual arrests during the time you were with him.

It does not look good that you changed your plea.

Since you did change the charge against him and he got off, essentially you have just thrown in the proverbal monkey wrench into any plans you might have to get him prosecuted now. You will just have to check out the statute of limitations for your state and decide if you have enough police reports, injury reports to get a good case against him stick. The fact you went to a therapist is good and all, but you need to remember that dwelling on the problem every week is not going to heal you though. Try weaning yourself off the therapist sessions by going every other week, then every 3 weeks, etc.

Also, if you are divorced from him now why didn't your attorney bring this up on your behalf before?

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Originally Posted by twinkiedooter

Since you did change the charge against him and he got off, essentially you have just thrown in the proverbal monkey wrench into any plans you might have to get him prosecuted now. You will just have to check out the statute of limitations for your state and decide if you have enough police reports, injury reports to get a good case against him stick. The fact you went to a therapist is good and all, but you need to remember that dwelling on the problem every week is not going to heal you though. Try weaning yourself off the therapist sessions by going every other week, then every 3 weeks, etc.

Also, if you are divorced from him now why didn't your attorney bring this up on your behalf before?

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Excellent advice concerning the abuse as part of the matrimonial issue. At this point, after 2 years, if he's leaving you alone I'd let the whole issue go. Once you charge and then drop the charges (which you cannot do in some States because the Plaintiff becomes The People of the State, not you individually) your credibility comes into play.

I'd leave it because he was violent, now he leaves you alone, why antagonize him and I don't see any benefit to you from pursuing this.