Arrested for Assault and Battery on a Family Member in Bristol County

Criminal Charges:

Assault and Battery on a Family/Household Member in violation of M.G.L. c. 265, § 13M(a) in Berkley, Massachusetts; Bristol County; Taunton District Court

Case Overview:

Berkley Police were dispatched to a private residence after receiving a 911 call from the mother of an alleged female victim.  The mother alleged that her daughter and her daughter’s boyfriend, the defendant, were having a heated argument.  Police arrived and overheard the female and her boyfriend yelling at each other.  Police entered the residence, at which time the boyfriend yelled that they were not allowed inside.  The boyfriend then walked away from police and slammed the door behind him as he entered a bedroom.  The girlfriend told police the man had been drinking.  A friend of the couple who was present and witnessed the incident told police that the man assaulted his girlfriend by grabbing her arms violently and shoving her several times.  The boyfriend exited the bedroom and continued to yell at police.  Police noticed broken pieces of a lamp on the ground.  Based on this information, police placed the man under arrest for Assault and Battery on a Family/Household Member.  He hired Massachusetts Domestic Violence Attorney, John L. Calcagni III, to defend him in this matter.

Case Result:

Dismissed. After his investigatory efforts, Attorney Calcagni successfully secured the girlfriend’s signature on a notarized affidavit stating that she did not want to see her boyfriend prosecuted, did not want to testify against him at a trial, and supported the dismissal of the case.  This threw a dagger in the Commonwealth’s case by neutralizing its key witness.  Attorney Calcagni’s team presented this document to the prosecution, who realized that without the girl’s testimony, it could not sustain its burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt at trial, even with the friend as a witness.  Attorney Calcagni and his team scheduled this matter for a bench trial, where they successfully motioned the Court to dismiss the case for lack of prosecution.           

 

Taunton District Court, Massachusetts