Case Dismissed
Our client, a 54 year-old man from Carmel, was arrested after getting into an argument with his wife. At the time, his wife alleged that he threatened to hurt her. Our client was dragged out of his home and arrested immediately. His wife obtained an emergency criminal protective order and a domestic violence restraining order against our client. The Monterey County District Attorney charged him with one count of “making criminal or terrorist threats” against his wife (Penal Code Section 422(a)).
Our client was appointed the Public Defender to represent him initially. The first offer made by the prosecutor was to plead guilty to a domestic battery charge.
We were retained to represent him less than a week before his case was to go before a jury. We then convinced the judge to move the trial date while we conducted additional investigation.
After reviewing all of the discovery (including reviewing several hours of body camera footage) and doing a thorough investigation, we found significant flaws with the prosecutor's case. Following several discussions with the District Attorney, we convinced them that they could not prove the case at trial. The District Attorney dismissed the case, and our client never even had to step into the courtroom.