My jurisdiction is: Ohio
Why would prosector dismiss case at pretrial hearing when they have a confession? Is this common? Please if you have time, read the following situation. Advise whether you believe my friend is receiving appropriate advice from his counsel. Also, how likely is it that new charges will be filed and sent to grand jury? How much time does the prosecutor have to do this?
My friend was charged with 1 count gross sexual imposition, felony of the 4th degree (GSI-4) in Ohio. He is charged with forcibly trying to put his hand down the pants of a woman that he worked with. This constitutes GSI-4 in Ohio. He plead not guilty at arraignment and the judge gave him ROR and set a pre-trial hearing. At the pre-trial hearing the prosecutor dismissed the case but can still decide to send it to the grand jury.
Here are more details. The woman claims that she never had anything other than a professional relationship with the defendant, but that he had made sexual advances toward her at work. She claims that he showed up at her house uninvited one morning, kissed her, touched her breasts and put his hand in the waistband of her pants after she repeatedly told him to stop. This is the complaint in a nutshell.
Now, the defendant claims that the two of them had been exchanging sexual text messages for two weeks and had kissed and messed around at work. That she invited him to her home in a text message on more than one occasion, and that the night before in text messages, they agreed to get together the next morning. His cell phone billing detail proves that she had initiated texting the night before, and that they had exchanged over 100 text messages in the past 2 weeks. The content of those messages is unavailable as both parties deleted them. All he has is billing detail that shows time/date and who sent/received.
Here's his biggest problem... When he was contacted by the PD he voluntarily went in for questioning, & waived his right to an attorney. Over the next 2-3 hours, he confessed and was arrested. He claims that they refused to believe him about their prior relationship, and basically twisted everything he said to fit her side of the story. The confession was recorded, which he seems to be pleased about. He says it will show that he did not actually confess.
After his arraignment he immediately retained an attorney. He paid a flat fee of $7500 for his defense. He provided the attorney with his phone billing detail, but this is basically all the contrary evidence he has. A court order has been issued for the content of the messages from the phone company, but it does not appear that hey are archived anywhere.
So, today was the pre-trial hearing. The lawyers meet behind closed doors. The defense attorney showed the prosecution the cell phone bill and tried to convince that perhaps this woman was not telling the whole truth. The prosecutor then dismissed the case without prejiduce.
His defense attorney informed him that the case could still go before the grand jury. He suggested that my friend take a polygraph test so long as he is sure he will pass it just to deliver additional blows to the merit of the case. He did advise that if the woman said "no" at all during the alleged incident, that he should not take the poly.
Please feel free to give opinions, and provide possible answers to the above questions.
Why would prosector dismiss case at pretrial hearing when they have a confession? Is this common? Please if you have time, read the following situation. Advise whether you believe my friend is receiving appropriate advice from his counsel. Also, how likely is it that new charges will be filed and sent to grand jury? How much time does the prosecutor have to do this?
My friend was charged with 1 count gross sexual imposition, felony of the 4th degree (GSI-4) in Ohio. He is charged with forcibly trying to put his hand down the pants of a woman that he worked with. This constitutes GSI-4 in Ohio. He plead not guilty at arraignment and the judge gave him ROR and set a pre-trial hearing. At the pre-trial hearing the prosecutor dismissed the case but can still decide to send it to the grand jury.
Here are more details. The woman claims that she never had anything other than a professional relationship with the defendant, but that he had made sexual advances toward her at work. She claims that he showed up at her house uninvited one morning, kissed her, touched her breasts and put his hand in the waistband of her pants after she repeatedly told him to stop. This is the complaint in a nutshell.
Now, the defendant claims that the two of them had been exchanging sexual text messages for two weeks and had kissed and messed around at work. That she invited him to her home in a text message on more than one occasion, and that the night before in text messages, they agreed to get together the next morning. His cell phone billing detail proves that she had initiated texting the night before, and that they had exchanged over 100 text messages in the past 2 weeks. The content of those messages is unavailable as both parties deleted them. All he has is billing detail that shows time/date and who sent/received.
Here's his biggest problem... When he was contacted by the PD he voluntarily went in for questioning, & waived his right to an attorney. Over the next 2-3 hours, he confessed and was arrested. He claims that they refused to believe him about their prior relationship, and basically twisted everything he said to fit her side of the story. The confession was recorded, which he seems to be pleased about. He says it will show that he did not actually confess.
After his arraignment he immediately retained an attorney. He paid a flat fee of $7500 for his defense. He provided the attorney with his phone billing detail, but this is basically all the contrary evidence he has. A court order has been issued for the content of the messages from the phone company, but it does not appear that hey are archived anywhere.
So, today was the pre-trial hearing. The lawyers meet behind closed doors. The defense attorney showed the prosecution the cell phone bill and tried to convince that perhaps this woman was not telling the whole truth. The prosecutor then dismissed the case without prejiduce.
His defense attorney informed him that the case could still go before the grand jury. He suggested that my friend take a polygraph test so long as he is sure he will pass it just to deliver additional blows to the merit of the case. He did advise that if the woman said "no" at all during the alleged incident, that he should not take the poly.
Please feel free to give opinions, and provide possible answers to the above questions.
