Assault and Battery on a Family or Household Member: Dismissed.
Police working a detail at a concert overheard continuous honking of a horn in a nearby parking lot. They went to investigate and encountered a witness who claimed that she observed a man assault his wife. Specifically, the witness indicated that the couple had an argument inside their car. During the verbal altercation, the man assaulted his wife by grabbing her face. Police observed the wife to be teary-eyed and to have redness and bruising to her face. Though she refused to cooperate or provide a statement to police, they arrested her husband based on the witness statement and corroborating physical injury.
He was charged in Massachusetts with Assault and Battery on a Family or Household Member. The man retained Massachusetts Criminal Defense Lawyer, John L. Calcagni III, to defend him in this matter. As part of his own pretrial investigation, Attorney Calcagni interviewed the wife and obtained her signature on an affidavit stating that she did not wish to proceed with or participate in criminal prosecution against her husband. The document further stated that if subpoenaed to testify against her will, she would invoke her marital privilege to not provide any testimony against her spouse. Armed with this document, Attorney Calcagni successfully convinced the prosecution to outright dismiss this case and its charge against the man.