Massachusetts Criminal Lawyer Blog
On a Friday night in February, 2013 RW, a 25 year old cop from Maine, and his girlfriend came to Boston for an evening on the town. They visited several bars and by the end of the night RW was quite drunk. At about 1:15AM on Saturday morning RW found himself under arrest for Assault & Battery on his girlfriend. RW retained Attorney Robert Lewin. Attorney Lewin obtained a copy of the Boston Police 911 Call Recording. of RW’s girlfriend’s call to the police. On the recording she is crying and in a panic. She tells the police that RW grabbed her by the throat and pushed her head against a wall. In the background RW can be heard shouting andf swearing at her. The recording was awful. The 911 operator kept the girlfriend on the line and within 2 minutes the Boston Police arrived in person on the scene and arrested RW.
RW made no statements to the police. He was booked and subsequently released. He went home and took pictures of his neck and right hand. His neck had scratches on it and his right hand hand bite marks on it. The police report stated that the girlfriend had no visible injuries.This put the case in a very different light. The photographs and the injuries to RW raised the issue that the girlfriend had assaulted RW and thus the girlfriend had a Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate herself and thus not to testify.
On Friday, May 3, 2013 RW and Attorney Lewin appeared in the Boston Municipal Court, Central Division (Downtown Boston). The case was called and RW and Attorney Lewin answered ready for trial. The girlfriend did not appear at Court. Attorney Lewin moved to dismiss the case and Judge ordered the case dismissed. RW was fortunate that he had taken the pictures of his injuries.