My Roommate Is Charging Me For Assault

Location: South Carolina

TW: assault, domestic abuse

Hi Reddit. I have no idea how anything in the legal system works but I know my roommate has recently pressed charges on me for assaulting him in October.

To briefly retell the situation: my roommate is my ex bf. We stopped being a couple basically right when we moved into this two bedroom two bathroom apartment in July. He stopped being interested in me and did not pay his half of rent and bills like he had agreed to which was really frustrating. One day in October he was in the living room brushing his dog and listening to music sitting on the ground, not in front of the tv which was on but idle so I went and turned it off. Then he grabbed the remote from my hands and turned it back on, placing the remote next to him and continuing what he was previously doing, once again not using the tv. I told him he can have the TV on without using it when he starts paying for electricity and went to grab the remote again. He quickly stood up and pushed me several steps towards the wall and pushed me up against the wall violently. He was yelling at me about not bothering him. I dialed 911 and hung up as soon as someone answered because I was scared, I had never called 911 on anyone before. This is where I really messed up. I started yelling at him, absolutely furious that he put his free loading hands on me. Finally I spat in his face. I was so mad that I didn't care that he was recording me.

Next, he called the police. They came and he showed them the video. I told them how he assaulted me first. They said that there wasn't enough evidence on either end for any charges to be made. I asked about the police report and they said there would be no police report which confused me.

My roommate has been just as shitty as ever the past few months but no more violence has occurred. In March he didn't send me rent money in time for me to pay it. I've covered for him too many times and simply didn't want to deal with it anymore. I told him I'd give him $1k ($200 less than my half) and he could pay the rest in person to the office if he didn't want to get evicted. He refused that so I assumed we were getting evicted, it was filed, and I started packing. He was pissed about the idea of getting evicted and blamed it on me even though he caused it by not paying on time. He threatened to charge me with assault if I didn't resolve the situation. Then he unexpectedly paid the whole balance himself the day before we would have been kicked out.

I wasn't sure if he actually did press charges or not but it seems like he has, he's sent me a lot of texts saying that he has but he lies a lot so I didn't fully believe him until today when my ex fiance texted me saying that some lady came by looking for me with "legal documents" today. Weird that they went to his place since I moved out of there 2 years ago and my address is current on everything. I guess I have to get a lawyer but I don't even know where to start. I know I spat on him but he literally bruised me (I do have pictures of the bruises). I feel like there is no way I could lose in court but at the same time he makes me doubt myself, he seems so confident that he is going to get back at me for not covering his rent for the thousandth time.

I guess what I want to as is: will they believe me? Does my lack of evidence make him seem innocent? All I have are the pics of my bruises on my chest and the log of me calling 911 before he did. How do I choose a good lawyer for this kind of thing? If I'm found guilty, will that stick with me for the rest of my life and cause problems for me? I really don't even know where to start with figuring all of this out.