State v. Mr. W (DMC No. 14076) – (2 Counts) – Felony Sexual Abuse & (2 Counts) Aggravated Assault on a Child – Dismissed After Grand Jury Remand Motion Granted – Yavapai County Superior Court – (Case No. P1300-CR-2014-01291):
Mr. W’s wife and he went over to his brother-in-law’s house. His brother-in-law and his wife adopted their grandchild who was now 14 years old. The 14 year old was exposed to meth and heroin as an infant through her birth mother, and she was under treatment for various psychiatric illnesses and was on psychotropic medications. She was also diagnosed with ADHD.
At some point prior to this, Mr. W’s brother-in-law altered his will to benefit Mr. W’s wife, and not his own wife. His brother-in-law’s wife was very upset, and it appeared he had gotten their daughter to make accusations Mr. W. These accusations included grabbing her breasts on two different occasions.
The Police then had the alleged victim call Mr. W in order to “confront” him on the phone. Mr. W denied everything. Then the alleged victim’s mother began making claims that Mr. W admitted to doing these acts. He was ultimately Arrested and taken to the station where he denied all accusations. Later, a Grand Jury was empaneled, which issued an indictment against Mr. W for 2 counts of Felony Sexual Abuse and 2 counts of Felony Aggravated Assault on a Child. He then retained our services to defend him.
Because the Grand Jury Hearing did not include all exculpatory evidence as was requested, and because the Officers also were untruthful when presenting the Grand Jury evidence, we filed a Motion to Remand. When we went in to argue the Motion, the judge agreed that it was a tainted Grand Jury proceeding, and he Remanded the case back for another Grand Jury review. We then filed a Trebus/Bashir letter, which contained all of the information regarding the mental issues of the alleged victim and the surrounding circumstances. At that point, Yavapai County Attorney’s Office made the decision to not proceed back to Grand Jury, and all the charges were Dismissed.