My client was a bouncer who’d been accused of assaulting a patron and breaking bones in his face – a serious felony. My client was adamant he didn’t do any harm: the patron was drunk, so he was made to leave the bar – and his face was intact when he did so. End of story.
The patron had an altogether different recollection: he said my client threw him out of the bar, pushed him to the ground and kicked him in the face. My client’s prior record of misdemeanors didn’t help his case, but in no way did it mean he was guilty this time.
The DA’s office refused to offer a plea bargain – not that it would have mattered, my client was insistent that he did nothing wrong. Instead, they held him to the charge and wanted him to do upstate time (i.e. a prison sentence of at least a year). We agreed that the case would go to the Grand Jury. The Suffolk DA’s office agreed to call numerous witnesses we had supplied to them. These witnesses some of who were co-workers, and some who were customers of the bar that evening testified that they saw my client remove the complainant without injury. The Grand Jury chose not to indict him and the case was dismissed.