Tampa criminal court case results
- Felony Battery Charge Dismissed in Tampa
- facts: Our client was arrested for felony battery after a physical altercation with the victim left her eye swollen and bruised. According to the victim she confronted our client (her boyfriend) about his son. At that point an argument escalated out of control. The victim told tampa police that he (client) got off the couch without warning and struck her in the face several times. She called 911, and police arrived a short time later. The victim told police at the scene that she did not want to prosecute.
- The police responded by telling her that they would arrest her if she refused to give them a written statement. This reaction by law enforcement at a domestic dispute is not uncommon. Some law enforcement officers will take a number of coercive steps to ensure that the victim follows through on her initial allegation, and gives them the evidence they need. Once she signed her written statement, the police arrested our client, and took him to jail. This charge was aggravated to a felony battery charge because of our client's violent past. He had been to prison before, and convicted of numerous violent offenses. If convicted the client was facing prison.
- defense: What is noticeably missing from the police report is the steps the victim took to provoke our client. She struck him in the face a number of times before he ever touched her. The victim also admitted in deposition that she was irate at our client because she believed another woman had been calling him. The prosecutor in this case failed to realize any of these issues until we presented them at the victim's sworn deposition. We never denied that our client struck the victim. We argued it was justified under the circumstances. Initially, the prosecutor disagreed with us, but was forced to dismiss a felony battery charge against our client.
- results: The Felony Battery Charge was dismissed.
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