Two cases dismissed at the eve of trial confirmation.
Today was a good day, two separate cases were dismissed by the district attorney’s office on a day set to confirm readiness to go to trial in these cases. I applaud the district attorneys who did what was the proper course in my opinion.
The first case dismissed was quite interesting and my client faced possible state prison due to a number of prior DUI convictions and he had been on the run in this case for nearly a decade, and not surprisingly, he picked up a new DUI case in another county within the state. The case wasn’t looking good for him and time usually is not on one’s side in criminal cases but it was in this matter.
Luck would have it, or bad luck for the arresting officer, subsequent to the arrest of my client, the officer became involved in his own foray into the criminal justice system, and I am told he had a number of charges against him for sexual assault under color of authority and other serious malfeasance and was forced to resign or retire.
I filed suppression motions and what is known as a “Pitchess” motion to obtain incriminating data on the arresting officer . The district attorney’s office could not put the key witness on the stand in good consciousness and dismissed the matter. My client who was in custody was very grateful and appreciated I took the case seriously. This was a court appointment with no cost to the client and sometimes you do get what you pay for.
In another unrelated matter, a young lady with a troubled past obtained a dismissal of her case for battery on her spouse.
