10 mistakes to avoid after a domestic violence arrest in Nebraska. A domestic violence arrest in Nebraska has a way of making people want to fix everything immediately.
Explain what really happened to the police. Call the other person and straighten things out. Delete the text that looks terrible without context. Post your side of the story online before everyone hears theirs.
Understandable impulses. Potentially terrible ideas.
After a domestic violence arrest in Nebraska, some of the most damaging evidence in the eventual case may come from things that happen after the original incident. A poorly considered text, recorded phone call, social media post, or violation of a protection order can turn an already difficult case into something considerably worse.
At Miltenberger Law, we defend people facing domestic violence charges in Omaha and across Nebraska. If you’ve been arrested, your first goal shouldn’t be personally solving the case overnight.
It should be avoiding mistakes that make your defense harder tomorrow.
Blog Summary: What You’ll Learn to Avoid After a Nebraska Domestic Violence Arrest
Nebraska domestic assault cases can involve much more than the accusation that originally brought police to the scene. Depending on the circumstances, you may also be dealing with release conditions, protection orders, restrictions on contact, firearm issues, and evidence collected after your arrest.
In this guide, you’ll learn why you should avoid:
- Trying to explain everything to police without an attorney
- Contacting the complaining witness when contact is prohibited
- Assuming you’re allowed to respond because the other person contacted you first
- Deleting texts, photographs, videos, or other potential evidence
- Posting your version of events on social media
- Discussing the allegations during recorded jail calls
- Trying to convince witnesses to change what they said
- Ignoring protection orders or other court restrictions
- Assuming the case disappears if the alleged victim wants it dropped
- Waiting too long to begin preparing your defense
A domestic violence arrest isn’t a conviction. Nebraska law still requires prosecutors to prove the charged offense. Under Nebraska Revised Statute § 28-323, domestic assault charges vary according to the alleged conduct, injury, mental state, use of a dangerous instrument, and criminal history.
What you do after the arrest can affect the evidence your Nebraska criminal defense attorney ultimately has to work with.
Mistake #1: Trying to Talk Your Way Out of the Arrest
You know what happened. The officer clearly doesn’t.
So another 20 minutes of explanation should clear everything up, right? Probably not the experiment you want to conduct.
Once officers are investigating a domestic assault allegation, statements you make can become evidence. Something you consider an innocent explanation may be interpreted as an admission to physical contact, knowledge, intent, or another fact prosecutors later use against you.
For example: “I barely pushed her.”
You may believe you’re denying an assault.
An investigator may hear: He admitted pushing her.
Similarly, statements such as “I only grabbed him because he wouldn’t let me leave” or “I didn’t hit her that hard” may have implications you didn’t appreciate when you said them.
This doesn’t mean you should lie. It means you don’t have to conduct your defense during an emotional conversation with law enforcement.
Exercise your right to remain silent and ask to speak with a Nebraska domestic violence defense attorney before answering investigative questions.
Your lawyer can deal with explanations later. You can’t unsay an admission.
Mistake #2: Contacting the Other Person When You’re Not Allowed To
This one deserves particular attention. If a court order prohibits you from contacting someone, follow it. Exactly. Not approximately.
Not “except when it’s important.” Not “except because I need my laptop from the house.”
Nebraska’s Protection Orders Act (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 26-103) permits courts to issue domestic abuse protection orders containing significant restrictions, including prohibitions on contacting or communicating with the petitioner.
Knowingly violating certain protection orders can also create a separate criminal offense. Under Nebraska law, violating a domestic abuse or sexual assault protection order is a Class I misdemeanor for a first offense, with progressively more serious felony classifications for subsequent offenses.
If you’re subject to a protection order in Omaha or anywhere else in Nebraska, read the entire order and discuss anything you don’t understand with your attorney.
Need medication from the house? Want to arrange something involving the children? Need to retrieve work equipment?
Those may be legitimate concerns. They are not reasons to improvise your own exception to a court order.
Mistake #3: Assuming “They Contacted Me First” Makes It Okay
Your phone buzzes.
It’s the complaining witness. They want to talk. Maybe they apologize. Maybe they say the entire situation got out of control. Maybe they want you to come home.
Your first thought might be: Well, if they contacted me, obviously I can respond.
Don’t make that assumption.
The terms of the applicable court order or restriction control what you’re permitted to do. A message from the other person does not necessarily modify a judge’s order.
Save the communication. Don’t delete it. Don’t assume it authorizes a response.
And definitely don’t turn one incoming “Can we talk?” message into a 73-message conversation before asking your defense attorney whether communication was permitted.
When a court order is involved, permission comes from the court, not from your interpretation of a text message.
Mistake #4: Deleting Messages or Other Evidence
You look through your phone and find a message that doesn’t look great.
Delete? No.
First, destroying or altering potential evidence can create additional legal problems. Second, that embarrassing message might look considerably different when viewed as part of the complete conversation.
Suppose prosecutors have a screenshot showing: “You’re going to regret this.”
That sounds unpleasant. But perhaps the surrounding conversation shows you were talking about canceling a vacation, moving out, or refusing to pay for concert tickets. Context matters.
Preserve potentially relevant:
- Text messages
- Emails
- Voicemails
- Call histories
- Photographs
- Videos
- Social media messages
- Doorbell-camera recordings
- Home surveillance footage
- Location information
- Receipts or records establishing where you were
Don’t clean up your digital history because you’re worried about how something looks. Show it to your attorney. Let your domestic violence defense lawyer decide what’s important before your thumb decides what’s permanent.
Mistake #5: Posting Your Side of the Story on Social Media
You know people are talking.
Someone posted something vague on Facebook. Your former partner’s friend posted something considerably less vague.
Now you want to tell everyone what really happened.
Don’t. Social media is useful for birthdays, vacation pictures, and learning that someone you haven’t spoken to since high school has surprisingly strong opinions about air fryers.
It is not your courtroom.
A social media post can potentially:
- Contradict something you previously said
- Reveal your defense strategy
- Identify potential witnesses
- Be interpreted as threatening or intimidating
- Create questions about prohibited indirect contact
- Provide prosecutors with evidence they didn’t previously possess
Even a post that never mentions the other person by name may create problems if everyone involved clearly knows who you’re discussing. And deleting it afterward doesn’t necessarily solve anything. Screenshots exist.
Your “friends” don’t need your complete defense strategy.
Your Miltenberger Law defense attorney does.
Mistake #6: Talking About the Case on Recorded Jail Calls
This mistake deserves its own category because it happens far more easily and often than people expect.
You’re arrested. You’re angry. You call someone you trust. And then you spend 25 minutes explaining precisely what happened.
Be extremely careful discussing the facts of your case on jail telephone systems. Calls may be recorded and potentially obtained by prosecutors, subject to applicable law and privilege rules.
Statements such as:
“I grabbed her, but only because…”
“Tell him not to mention…”
“Make sure she says…”
can create issues far beyond whatever explanation comes after the word “but.”
Don’t use jail calls to coordinate witness statements, discuss evidence, criticize the complaining witness, or develop your defense strategy. And don’t assume clever wording makes a conversation safe.
Prosecutors have heard euphemisms before. Your Nebraska domestic violence defense attorney is where detailed conversations about your defense belong.
Mistake #7: Trying to Get Someone to Change Their Story
You believe the accusation is false. Or exaggerated. Or the result of a misunderstanding.
So you decide the easiest solution is to call the person and convince them to tell prosecutors what really happened.
Don’t.
Directly or indirectly pressuring a complaining witness, or any witness, to change their account can create serious problems.
That includes asking:
- A mutual friend to “talk some sense into them”
- A family member to deliver a message
- Someone to ask the witness not to appear in court
- The witness to delete messages or photographs
- The witness to change what they previously told police
Even if you believe you’re merely trying to correct a misunderstanding, prosecutors may interpret certain communications very differently.
If a witness wants to clarify, correct, or recant an earlier statement, let your attorney determine the appropriate way to handle that development. There is an enormous difference between uncovering inconsistent evidence and creating evidence that looks like witness pressure.
Mistake #8: Treating a Protection Order Like a Suggestion
Protection orders can dramatically affect everyday life in Nebraska.
You may suddenly be unable to return to a residence, communicate with someone, visit certain locations, or do things that were completely ordinary a day earlier. That can feel unfair, particularly if you strongly dispute the underlying allegations.
But violating the order is not how you challenge it. Nebraska’s Protection Orders Act allows courts to restrict contact and grant other forms of relief in domestic abuse cases, and violations can lead to separate criminal consequences.
So don’t:
- Drive by the residence “just to see who’s there”
- Send a message through someone else
- Create another social media account to make contact
- Appear at a location you’re ordered to avoid
- Assume a reconciliation automatically cancels the order
If you believe a Nebraska protection order should be modified, challenged, or terminated, discuss the proper legal process with your attorney. Challenge court orders in court. Not from the driveway.
Mistake #9: Assuming the Case Is Over Because the Alleged Victim Wants It Dropped
This conversation happens all the time: “They don’t want to press charges anymore.”
That’s potentially important. It doesn’t necessarily mean the prosecution ends. Once criminal charges have been filed, the government generally determines whether the case continues. Prosecutors may consider the complaining witness’s position, but they may also evaluate other evidence.
That could include:
- 911 recordings
- Police body-camera footage
- Photographs
- Medical records
- Statements made to officers
- Independent witnesses
- Text messages
- Surveillance footage
A witness changing their account may create significant evidentiary or credibility issues.
But don’t translate “they don’t want charges” into “I can ignore court dates and stop talking to my lawyer.” Until your domestic violence defense attorney confirms the case has actually been dismissed, you still have a criminal case.
Mistake #10: Waiting to Start Building Your Defense
This may be the least dramatic mistake on the list. It can also be one of the most expensive.
Evidence has a shelf life. A business may overwrite security-camera footage. A neighbor may forget what they heard. A doorbell camera may automatically delete recordings. Messages can disappear. Phones can be replaced. Witnesses can move.
Meanwhile, prosecutors aren’t necessarily waiting. An experienced Nebraska criminal defense lawyer may begin looking for evidence that includes self-defense, conflicting accounts, or missing context. Your attorney needs time to investigate those issues.
The best time to preserve disappearing evidence is generally before it disappears.
Bonus Mistake: Assuming an Arrest Means the Police Version is Correct
We’ll make this one free.
Police made an arrest. That means the police made an arrest. It doesn’t mean a jury has heard the evidence. It doesn’t mean witnesses have been cross-examined. It doesn’t mean body-camera footage supports everything written in the report.
And it certainly doesn’t mean you’re required to accept the government’s version of what happened.
Domestic incidents frequently occur without independent witnesses. Officers may have to make quick decisions based on injuries, statements, witness accounts, and circumstances they observe after the alleged confrontation.
A defense investigation has more time. Your attorney can compare:
- The police report with the body-camera footage
- The 911 call with later statements
- Alleged injuries with medical documentation
- One person’s account with text messages
- The accusation with surveillance video
- The prosecution’s theory with evidence of self-defense
If you believe officers only heard one side, read our guide on what happens when police only believed one side of a domestic dispute.
Talk to a Nebraska Domestic Violence Defense Attorney at Miltenberger Law Right Away
A domestic violence arrest in Nebraska can affect your freedom, home, family relationships, reputation, and future.
But the arrest is not the verdict. Under Nebraska law, prosecutors still have to establish the elements of the domestic assault offense they charge. Nebraska’s current statute distinguishes among degrees of domestic assault based on factors including the alleged injury, mental state, and involvement of a dangerous instrument, with prior qualifying convictions potentially increasing the severity of the charge.
At Miltenberger Law, we represent people facing domestic assault allegations, strangulation charges, protection-order matters, and related criminal cases throughout the Omaha area and across Nebraska.
We can examine the police investigation, review the evidence, identify inconsistencies, investigate potential defenses, and help you avoid decisions that could unnecessarily complicate your case.
Call (402) 217-2267 or contact Miltenberger Law online to schedule a confidential consultation with an experienced Nebraska domestic violence defense attorney.
You can’t change what happened before the arrest. You can control what you do next.
