WorryforGC
First of all, no one (including the friend of your wife) screwed your life. You actually screwed your life by your own when you acted so violently with your wife. I don’t know which country and culture you came from, but a MAN should NEVER hit a woman, no matter how badly a woman behaves. Especially when your wife is a mother of your kids. I know that in so many cultures/countries, men beat their wives/women, but it is not a good thing. Do you want a woman to beat you if you do a wrong thing? No, right? Women are also human beings like men. They are not cows or inferior than men. Anyway, always remember that there is a difference between a MAN and BOY, unless you wanted to prove your “manhood” or wanted to prove that you are a macho man by beating/hitting a woman (a weak sex).
Secondly, if you want to curse your wife’s friend now for your misery then you can do so, but the truth is-she did the right thing when she called the Police on you. Because, some domestic violence sometimes turn into a serious crime like murdering. Her friend did not want anything bad happened to her. Who knows you might have ended up in a much big mess by now if she had not called the cops on you. So, you need to stop blaming her for your situation. She did what a true friend and a noble citizen would do in this situation.
Protecting a life of a person is more important than a thrust of obtaining a green card. If, just in case, if violence between you and your wife had led to more dangerous then she might have ended up dead. You cannot say that you would never do this thing; otherwise you had not even hit her at first place. That’s why I said that violence can lead to more different level. We are all human beings and we have mental and emotional feelings to get mad. So we cannot guarantee that this or that won’t happen. Your wife’s friend did the right thing. I’m sure you are unable to see/understand that you are ended up in a big immigration and criminal mess because of your own actions, and not because of your wife’s friend.
Thirdly, Police can make an arrest or file a criminal charge against anyone, regardless of whether someone calls the Police or not or whether someone files the charges or not, if Police would have a probable cause of a crime to have committed or if Police believe that a crime is going to be committed. So, even though your wife afterwards decided not to press charges against you, Police still decided to pursue the criminal case against you.
Fourth, no attorney (any kind of attorney) can guarantee the 100% positive outcome of a case. If any attorney says so, then walk away from that attorney as far as you can. Because, then this attorney is just trying to suck up your money. Attorneys can guarantee up to 99%, but 1% should always be remained open for unforeseen situation.
Fifth, I think you should not have even talked anything about your wife here because the criminal case on hand is against you, and not against her. So, what good it would do about talking how badly your wife treated your parents or any other act of her. If you have had any problem with your wife’s act, then you could/can divorce her. Justifying your actions with her actions is not the way to deal the matter. Two wrongs don’t make a right. Always remember this.
Sixth, being a victim in a case against you if your wife won’t cooperate with DA (Police) then prosecutor would have a very hard time in obtaining a conviction on you. But that doesn’t mean that they cannot get a conviction on you at all. It would then depend what kind of evidences Police officer gathered/noticed. Besides, do not forget that they have a witness against you to prove their case, who is your wife’s friend. She cannot change her mind/story now. Because she already told to Police officer what she was told to her by your wife. If she would change her story, then she could risk of going to jail for making a false police report and lying to govt.
Seventh, I don’t know what kind of stupid question is this when you asked if INS can deport you despite of you are being on a H1-b visa or having a pending I-485. Don’t you know that INS can even deport a green card holder if s/he get convicted for a crime? So, what kind of stupid question is this?
About your criminal case, at most you would end up having some kind of misdemeanor record with probation if you don’t have prior criminal history. But chances of this happening are still very slim because your case might be thrown out (dismissed) because DA will most probably agree to a pre-deal like community service in the absence of any cooperation from your wife.
Don’t ever plead guilty. As far as immigration laws goes, you could be deported for any pleading or conviction. Only if DA agrees to DISMISS the charge after pre-deal then it’s okay. Your offence falls under Moral turpitude crime, a ground to deny Permanent Residency. But if you case gets dismissed then you don’t have to worry about it. You now have a lawyer, so you should be talking to him. Make sure he would know the consequences of any deal towards immigration point of views.
Good Luck.
