Legal Question in Criminal Law in Pennsylvania

Re: withdrawing a criminal assualt complaint

The case will be captioned (titled) Commonwealth v.

your friend. This means that the state, through the

office of the District Attorney is in charge of the

case. You have no right to control the prosecution

since you are mearly a witness/victim. However, you are

are probably the key or only witness. The District

attorney can subpoena you to testify. If you do not

want to testify, you had better obtain a lawyer to

advise you because your options are limited and your

risks are high. For example, you could be charged

with making false statements to authorities (police)

if your prior statements are not the same as your

in court (preliminary hearing) statements.