Our client was charged with domestic violence and child endangerment, with a total of 4 charges against him. We recently completed a 2-week jury trial in the case, resulting in 9 jurors voting for Not Guilty on all 4 counts. After the 9-3 win, the judge dismissed the case.
The Facts
Our client lives with his girlfriend, and he has one child with her. He also has a child with his ex-girlfriend. On the morning in question, client went out to breakfast with ex-girlfriend and both children. Current girlfriend happened to show up at the same restaurant, and she was unhappy to find him there with his ex-girlfriend. She was upset, pushed him, raised her voice, and demanded that he discuss the situation in the parking lot. He was holding their baby through all of this.
In the parking lot, girlfriend attempted to pull the baby from client’s arms. Rather than have a tug-of-war with his baby, client let go. Girlfriend fell backwards and screamed. Client reached down to assist. A few bystanders called 911. Some independent witnesses saw the incident from far away and had varying stories about what they saw.
The police arrested client for domestic violence and child endangerment. But the police never talked with ex-girlfriend regarding her observations. And they never looked for video surveillance cameras at local businesses.
Domestic Violence Pre-Trial
We took over this case from the public defenders’ office, when the client was not happy with their representation. Next, we negotiated with the prosecutor for a better resolution. We put together a mitigation packet and explained the factual issues with the case. The prosecutor’s supervisor did end up making a better offer to resolve the case with a plea to a simple battery charge. But that offer still not fit the facts of the case. So, our client made the right decision to take the case to trial.
Domestic Violence Trial
At trial, the girlfriend (victim) did not want to testify. She evaded service of the trial subpoena, but the government eventually found her. She failed to appear. The judge issued a body attachment, which is a type or arrest warrant, for the police to bring her to court. When she showed up at trial, she still did not want to testify. When the judge told her that she has to answer questions, she said that she does not remember the incident. So, the prosecutor played portions of body camera footage and read a transcript from that footage to the jury.
Two other witnesses testified for the government about their versions of what they saw in the parking lot. They had different vantage points, only saw part of what happened, and tried to embellish their testimony to help the government. We pointed out that they couldn’t see much from that far away, caught them in some exaggerations, and discredited their testimony. In the middle of the domestic violence trial, we hired a private investigator to take measurements at the scene. A witness testified that he was 30 yards away; we proved that he was 70 yards away.
As a defense witness, we called the ex-girlfriend who saw how the incident began. She is a lovely woman who came across as genuine. She testified that the victim started the aggression when she arrived mad and pushed our client into the parking lot.
Deliberations & Verdict
The jury deliberated for nearly 3 days and requested readback of most of the testimony. They took three votes. Each time, the split was 9 to 3 for Not Guilty. The three hold-outs simply were not going to change sides. So, the jury told the judge that they were unable to reach a verdict in this domestic violence trial.
Then, we prepared a legal brief, urging the judge to dismiss the case. The prosecutor did not oppose the motion to dismiss, so the judge dismissed the case.
If you or a loved one are facing a domestic violence case, call our skilled legal team at Criminal Defense Heroes, P.C. today at 323-529-3660 for a consultation.
