Whenever charges are made that a couple has been involved in domestic violence, the facts can be difficult to determine. The difficulty is that, oftentimes, it is one person’s word against the other.
If there is no other evidence of an assault or abuse, it will be up to the police to decide who should be arrested and charged, and for a judge to determine if those charges are based on sufficient evidence.
Country singer Rodney Atkins was arrested this past November on domestic violence charges, E! Online reported. According to his wife, the singer tried to smother her with a pillow, and then grabbed her face and shoved her. She says their 10-year-old son witnessed the assault.
Atkins’ wife reportedly called police after the alleged assault took place. Atkins was then charged with misdemeanor domestic assault. He was released from jail on $2,500 bail.
The court ordered that Atkins submit to anger management, drug and alcohol evaluations before a judge would consider his case. He allegedly passed all of those evaluations.
A judge is said to have sentenced the singer to perform 30 hours of community service. He is also on probation for the next year. This means that if there are no other incidents, the charge of domestic violence will be cleared from his record.
Rodney Atkins denies the domestic violence allegations, and the singer is not worried about further trouble. After his wife called the police on him for what he says is a fabricated story, he filed for divorce.
Source: Eonline.com, “Country Singer Rodney Atkins Ducks Jail as Domestic Violence Case if ‘Retired’,” Natalie Finn, Feb. 8, 2012