Our client and the complainant had been dating for eight years. On the night in question, the complainant returned to our client’s apartment and found that the door was locked. Our client refused to let her inside. After banging on the door, the complainant was attacked with a stick.
Our client was charged with assault with a weapon. In her 911 call and discussions with police and paramedics that night, the complainant claimed that our client had attacked her. However, in an interview with our private investigator, the complainant claimed that another woman from inside the apartment had actually attacked her. In her testimony at trial, the complainant confirmed that our client had not attacked her – it had been the other woman.
Although it was hearsay, the prosecution attempted to introduce the complainant’s 911 call and statements to police and paramedics into evidence. The judge accepted the 911 call but refused the statements to police and paramedics. Nevertheless, the judge was persuaded that the complainant’s evidence was so internally and externally inconsistent that it was impossible to tell what was accurate, what was mistaken, what had been the truth, and what had been a lie.
RESULT: Our client was found not guilty of assault with a weapon.