Criminal Case Dismissed at Trial-Knowing When to Hold Out
By Mark A. Johnson, Esq. California criminal defense, civil rights, and employment lawyer. Offices in Palmdale, Bishop, Oxnard, Rancho Cucamonga and Temecula, California.
Perhaps it’s a bad analogy to equate the resolution of a criminal case to a card came, but the reality of litigation, whether criminal or civil, is often about acceptable risk should a favorable opportunity to resolve a case present itself. The resolution of a case hinges on the strength of a case and ability to finance a protracted matter. In criminal cases the deal offered by the prosecution gets worse if a case is protracted and a strong case exists against the accused. However, most district attorneys are fair when significant disputes regarding fact and law exist.
Today, at the cusp of trial, the deputy district attorney dismissed a case against my client, a case that never should have been filed, and in my opinion, stems from bad blood between my client and former employer. From the onset of this case, when asked if we could settle the case, I replied, sure, “dismiss it.” I give homage to the judge in this matter because he listened earnestly to my position and how the DDA could not make its case at trial and I expected an early disposition of the matter. While usually amenable to a reasonable settlement of a case, I advised dismissal or no deal and we were ready to go to trial. While I have noted in previous articles that I don’t like to gamble over certain outcomes when faced with high risk, but today was different and I saw no downside going to trial or that my client could lose. Yeah for the justice system!
