April 14, 2015
Worcester District Court
Late one summer night at a massive party at a Westborough Hotel attended mostly by a group of Brazilians, a brawl broke out. People were injured and at least one person required immediate, emergency medical care. Client was believed to have been in attendance at the party and received a notice of a criminal action against him many months later. Client met with Lawyer. He was a stalky, muscular Brazilian in his mid twenties. The man who had been assaulted at the party so many months ago had been seriously injured that night. He had been punched and kicked in the face and head resulting in an emergency surgery. His jaw was fortified with titanium plates and wired shut. The undocumented party attendee, with the help of an attorney, filed a private criminal complaint against Client alleging that Client was the man who assaulted him. The medical records would later reveal that he did not know who actually assaulted him that night. Another attorney was consulted and further documents were filed, requesting that client be allowed to stay in the United States, under a special law that allows undocumented victims of crimes to remain in the states indefinitely.
After numerous court hearings including evidentiary hearings regarding both side’s requests to review the victim’s medical records from the days following the fight, the case was finally scheduled for trial. The Commonwealth was not offering any plea deals and as the trial date approached, even if they had, Client’s own immigration status would have prevented him from accepting much of anything. After a final conference between Defense Attorney and Assistant DA, the Commonwealth dismissed the case against Client based on recent caselaw that was directly applicable to the identification procedures that brought Client in front of the Court so many months before.
All charges dismissed without prejudice.
