174###15

Our client was in the area visiting a friend. Our client and his friend spent the day at the beach with some of her roommates and then returned to hang out at her place. Upon returning to her place they were approached by the alleged victim. The alleged victim got into an argument with them and our client stepped in to protect his friend. When police arrived both our client and the alleged victim were detained. Law enforcement then began the investigation by interviewing anyone who would speak to them. Those at the party knew the alleged victim since he lives in the area but did not know our client since he was visiting from out of town. According to law enforcement after their quick investigation our client had thrown the first punch and he was arrested for battery. After bonding out of jail our client contacted our office to begin working on his case. We thoroughly reviewed all of the witness’ statements, the State’s evidence, and Law Enforcement’s reports. Our office quickly noticed that witness statements were not consistent and left out portions of what happened. Using these statements and statements of witnesses who refused to speak with police our office prepared a defense strategy. Finally, we reviewed each detail of the case with the State pointing out several flaws in the statements. Soon after the State dropped all charges.