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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    New England
    Posts
    3

    Default Dropping the Charges in Criminal Case

    I filed charges against a man who duped me out of around $10000, purporting to be an Private Detective. I paid him this money in stages as an hourly rate for 'detective work' he did for my business regarding a fraudulent WCB claim registered against our business.

    Months later, when I won the WCB case against the employee, I discovered the man was a fraud, and wasn't a detective.

    I filed charges against him in an attempt to get my money back. It went to Grand Jury and he was indicted. We wrote off the money in last years accounting.
    Later we found the man was in jail for arson, or something equally stupid, and was likely to be there for several years.

    Now the case is about to go to trial, and I simply can't see the point any more. The man is in jail, at most he would get a sentence to run concurrent with his existing one. All this will do is add a couple of years to him getting parole.

    I simply don't care any more about this, and if I'd realised this at the beginning, I wouldn't have bothered. I really don't want to see the guy in prison any longer, he has two kids to raise, and I'm not going to get ANYTHING out of this. I don't want to go to court, I think its a complete waste of court time. I simply don't like dealing with the stress either. How can I get this dismissed?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Behind a Desk
    Posts
    98,846

    Default Getting a Charge Dismissed

    It is not up to you to decide whether or not the charge should proceed. But if you are the only victim, consider contacting the prosecutor's office and explain that you would not object to any resolution of the case they deemed appropriate, including dismissal of the charges, given the amount of time that the man is already serving on the arson charge.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    New England
    Posts
    3

    Default Can you please explain why?

    I don't understand why the charge can't be dropped if I withdraw the complaint.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Florida
    Posts
    435

    Default

    it CAN be, it just doesn't HAVE to be. it's up to the DA's office. much like when you complained, they didn't HAVE to file charges, they chose to.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    New England
    Posts
    3

    Default

    Thank you all for your help.

    I was told yesterday by the DA, that the man, (who is already in jail) plead guilty to Grand Larceny in the fourth degree). They said they'd turn it into a judgement, and I'd never see a penny.
    So, this miserable stage of my life is over, and I do not have to attend a court as a witness. I'm flushing my happy tablets down the drain.

    Now I'm going on vacation with my wife.

    Any idea how much extra time the guy will get for that?

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Michigan
    Posts
    28,906

    Default Guilty Plea

    If he did a good job plea bargaining, assuming state law permits, he probably got credit for time served plus a concurrent sentence, so as not to add to his prison time.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Location
    Central California
    Posts
    10

    Default

    This is a good example of a common misunderstanding. The civilian person who files the complaint with the DA or police is NOT THE ONE TO PRESS CHARGES. It is up to the prosecutor of the correct jurisdiction in which the matter is taking place, either the City Attorney, District Attorney, Attorney General, etc. Once the victim withdraws the complaint, the criminal case may or may not proceed, depending on whether or not the witness or victim is needed for testimony. Just like we saw in the KOBE case, in which the whole case of the prosecution depended on the alleged rape victim, and when she backed out, there was no case, and DA Mark Hurlburt looked like an idiot in front of everybody.

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