WHAT IS A WAIVER OF PROSECUTION AND HOW MUCH WEIGHT DOES IT HAVE?

An alleged victim who has expressed a desire not to go forward as a witness in the case can sign a waiver of prosecution.  A waiver of prosecution doesn’t guarantee the case against you will be dropped, but it demonstrates to the State Attorney’s Office that they may have a witness problem if the case proceeds to trial.  It becomes a weakness in their case. However, depending on what is written in the waiver, this can help or hurt you.  Sometimes alleged victims think they are helping you out by saying something like, “It only happened once, everything is fine now.  I don’t want her to go to jail.”  This is not helpful because it doesn’t say the incident didn’t happen.  In fact, it kinda says the opposite.  And it’s not saying the person accused didn’t do anything wrong, it’s just saying the alleged victim doesn’t want to see that person go to jail.


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