If you believe that someone has committed a crime against you, first you should contact the police. Often times, the police cannot charge a person with the commission of a misdemeanor crime if said crime did not occur in the presence of the Officer. Consequently, law enforcement may refer you to the LaRue County Attorney’s Office. If you want to bring a factual circumstance (claim) to the attention of the County Attorney to see if a crime was committed, you will be instructed to fill out a statement (Complaint Form) and sign it under oath and penalty of perjury. You will also be required to provide evidence to support your claim including but not limited to: photos, videos, witnesses, etc. Failure to provide evidence will result in your complaint being unprocessed and filed and no further action will be taken.
For a Complaint Form, see below.
It is important to remember these facts when filing a criminal complaint form:
- It is a crime to falsify information on the complaint. If it is shown that someone knowingly falsified information on the complaint, they can be charged with perjury, a class D felony punishable by 1-5 years in prison.
- The County Attorney will review your statement and will then decide whether a crime has been committed and whether sufficient information is available to prosecute the crime. Be as thorough as possible and submit any evidence you have upon completion and filing of the complaint form.
- Filing the statement form does not mean that charges will be taken.
- The County Attorney’s Office cannot conduct additional investigation from the facts presented on the form. If the facts on the form are insufficient to provide a basis from which charges can be filed, no further action will be taken on your complaint.
- If charges are taken, we are not “your attorney”. The LaRue County Attorney’s office does not represent you personally nor do we take sides. The County Attorney’s Office will prosecute the crime that was committed against the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. While the County Attorney’s Office will seek input from victims, witnesses cannot later demand that charges be dropped or make other demands about how the case must be resolved.
- If charges are taken, you cannot demand that they be dropped. Once the crime has been charged, you are a witness to the crime. The Commonwealth decides whether the charges will be pursued or dropped. This decision is based on a variety of factors, including, but not limited to, the wishes of the complaining witness, the strength of the case, the availability of corroborating witnesses and the history of the parties, if any.
NOTE: The County Attorney’s Office does not get involved in civil case such as: custody disputes, evictions, small claim matters, divorces, adoptions, or property line disputes. If your case involves in the of the following consult with a private attorney.
